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CfiEXRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



LIFE OF SAINT JOHN 
FRANCIS REGIS 

Of the Society of Jesus 

By 



Robert E. Holland, S. J. 



□ Da 



LOYOLA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
Chicago, Illinois 

1922 






IMPRIMI POTEST 

Joseph H. Rockwell, S. J. 

ProvinciaUs Maryl.-Neo Ehor. Provinciae 

NIHIL OBSTAT 

William H. Agxeay/S. J. 

Censor Deputatus 

IMPRIMATUR 

►J^ George W. Muxdelein 

ArcJiiepiscopus CMcagiensis 



COPYRIGHT, 1922 

BY 

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

g)f:!A65n616 



Vk/» .\ 



N 

J- 



To My 
Parents and Sisters 



CONTENTS 



The Saint in the World 

Introductory: Ancestry and Parentage 1 

John Francis Regis: The Youth 13 



The Saint in Religion 

John Francis Regis: The Jesuit 

John Francis Regis: The Educator of Youth . 

John Francis Regis: The Student and Priest 

John Francis Regis: The ^^Operarius Inconf usibilis " 

John Francis Regis: ^^In Manus Tuas, Domine'' . 



27 
35 
43 
57 
106 



The Saint in the Hearts of the Faithful 

The Last Resting Place: La Louvesc 117 

[VII] 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Portrait of Saint John Francis Regis 



Facing Page 
.Frontispiece 



Chapel at the Saint's Birthplace 



13 



FONTCOUVERTE 



53 



La Louvesc 



99 



Mortuary Chapel at La Louvesc . .... . . . 117 



The Basilica at La Louvesc . . . 139 



[XII] 



PREFACE 



This life of the sainted missionary/ John Francis 
Regis, of the Society of Jesus, was undertaken by the 
author very much as a labor of love, and not altogether 
without a certain sense of justice, so to speak, toward a 
man highly honored in his own country, but of whom 
English-speaking readers of sacred biography know 
scarcely anything at all. Or, if indeed, a few may per- 
haps have heard of Saint Regis, still their ideas have 
been so obscured by the clouds of misunderstanding and 
even calumny which overshadowed the man himself 
when he lived, that it were better to know nothing at all 
than to lend credence to some of the things said of this 
Saint, — for instance, that he was headstrong and un- 
tractable, that he was even dismissed from the Society 
of Jesus. 

It is the aim of this biography to tell in a simple and 
straightforward way the true story of what manner of 
man Saint John Francis Regis really was. The so-called 
"ultra-pious'' method has been avoided, — yet, on the 
other hand, the idea of some recent writers, who seem to 
delight in emphasizing the human failings of the saints, 
is considered a more serious fault than over-idealization, 
and so finds no place in this book. 

[IX] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

The author wishes to acknowledge his deep indebted- 
ness to all the French biographers of Saint John Francis 
Eegis : Labroue, Bonnet, Daubenton, Cros, De Curley, — 
all of the Society of Jesus, — and to others. Practical 
help, too, and encouragement often came in various 
forms from Pere Michel, S. J., of La Louvesc. Finally, 
the author wishes to thank many of his brethren for their 
generous assistance in preparing his work for the press. 



[X I 



THE SAINT IN THE WORLD 



introductory: Aij^cestry ai^d Parentage 



It was probably on a cold and perhaps cheerless after- 
noon, the seventh of December, 1616, when a well-dressed 
but travel-stained youth of about nineteen years entered 
the city of Toulouse from the south. Having quit his 
native village, Fontcouverte, forever, he was bound with 
a light heart for the Jesuit Novitiate. It was indeed this 
lightness of heart that overcamie the heaviness of his 
weary feet, for the journey had been long and tedious, 
but the goal, now in sight, was what spurred him onward 
down the dingy street. Coming at last to a massive pile 
of ancient architecture, the youth paused a moment be- 
fore it, gazing up at its broad fagade with rapt admira- 
tion. He was not much for outward show of emotions, 
but on this occasion a smile stole to his lips, and ascend- 
ing the broad steps, he entered the Basilica of Saint 
Saturninus, whither his devotion was to lead him many 
times again in the future. 

Pressing onward once more after his brief visit, he 
came at last to the ncAV home of which he had been 
dreaming for many months. It was a plain and almost 
unhomelike building situated on a corner. The struc- 
ture did not run in a parallel right angle with the inter- 
secting streets on which it stood, but a small triangle of 
the house was cut off, and in this front was the main 
entrance. 

[1] 



SAIXT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

The door opened suddenly, for the youth was expected, 
and a man in a black soutane welcomed him Avith an 
embrace. The youth entered; the door closed behind 
him and thus began the noviceship of John Francis 
Regis. 

John Francis Regis entered the Jesuit Novitiate leav- 
ing behind him at Fontcouverte a family sprung of an- 
cient and famous stock. The name Regis first appears 
in old records at La Grasse. De Rey, the original an- 
cestors Avere called ; and Jean De Rey, the first of these, 
together with another Jean and an Ysernus De Rey, had 
left their names on public records as far back as 1398. 

Those Avho have made careful research in the matter, 
find it most difficult to establish with certainty which 
Regis was the great-great-great-grandfather of the Saint ; 
but we knoAv that in 1537 lived Pierre Regis, who was 
certainly his great-great-grandfather. 

Pierre Regis was of La Grasse, and at the date men- 
tioned above, had acquired considerable property at 
Fontcouverte, where sixty years later the Saint was born. 
The secret of old Pierre 's prosperity lay no doubt in the 
fact that he was a merchant in wines and oils, as was his 
elder son after him. 

There is record of three children born to Pierre : Jean, 
the merchant ; Antoine, the lawyer ; and Antoinette, an 
only daughter. All three married. By his wife, Anne 
Martin, Jean had a son who was named for his grand- 
father, Pierre. Antoine married Marie de Martrin, who 
bore him tAvo sons, Barthelemy, and Jean, the father of 
the future saint. 

[2] 



AXCESTRY AXD PAREXTAGE 

Aiitoine built np a successful practice at law, and by 
careful investment of his money and by some political 
favor, acquired considerable property at Fontcouverte. 
His brother Jean was known among the peasantry as 
''Seigneur/' on account of the numerous mills he erected 
for their use, with the legal provision, however, that the 
property should remain in the family. Jean's success in 
his father's mercantile business soon made him a wealthy 
man. His life was all prosperity until, unhappily, to- 
ward the end, he suffered much sorrow at the hands of 
his own son Pierre. 

In 1582 we find Pierre managing his father's business. 
Three years later he Avas married to Claire de Mollet. 
After the marriage, relations between father and son 
still bore the same aspect of loving trust and filial 
devotion. It was not until Montmorency established a 
garrison of Huguenots at Carcassone, June 16, 1590, that 
trouble arose between Pierre and his father. The son 
was a loyal and generous Catholic, so that for him, the 
immediate making of his will and preparations for war 
were but logical consequences. 

The will breathes such a spirit of generosity and prac- 
tical Catholicism, that we are warranted in reproducing 
it here, at least in part : 

"First of all he fortifies himself with the sign of the 
cross, saying: 'In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus 
Sancti. Amen.' And recommends his soul to God the 
Father, the Son and Holy Ghost, and to all the Saints 
of Paradise, that they may receive it into the Kingdom 

[3] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

of Heaven when it shall be released from his body. This 
same body he is desirous should be buried in the parish 
church of La Grasse, in the tomb of his ancestors; and 
should he die in the war or elsewhere he wills that his 
body be brought here. 

' ^ He wills that at his funeral twenty-four priests shall 
celebrate Mass; to each one shall be given five sous. . . 
He furthermore wills that twenty-four children be in- 
vited, dressed in robes of black cloth reaching to the 
feet, and each bearing a candle of a pound of wax. That 
there be held a novena for him at which the said twenty- 
four children shall assist in the aforesaid robes; and 
when they go out from Mass, he wills that a loaf be given 
to each, worth six deniers. 

''Furthermore, he wills that on the ninth day of the 
novena and on his anniversary, the same honors be paid 
as at his funeral. 

''He wills and ordains that every day for one year 
succeeding his death there shall be said and celebrated 
for the repose of his soul, one Holy Mass, and at the end 
of the said year, that his anniversary be kept.'' 

Thus Pierre first provides for the repose of his soul 
and finally comes to his temporal concerns. He makes 
liberal provision for his father and sister, (a child, prob- 
ably, by Jean's second wife,) and then for his wife, who 
is with child. He makes the expected child his heir ; and 
in default of proper delivery of his wife, all his wealth 
is 1o devolve upon his father. 

[4] 



AXCESTEY AXD PAREXTAGE 

Pierre's courage and enthusiasm in joining the Cath- 
olic forces was not to be shared, or in the least under- 
stood by his father. The old man could not bear the loss 
of his beloved son, and thus opposed the project with 
might and main. All his remonstrances, however, were 
unavailing, and Pierre left for the war with his father 's 
curse ringing in his ears. In the words of one of the 
Saint's recent biographers, the old man ^'avait eu le tort 
le plus grave de souhaiter malheur a son fils, quand 
Pierre prit conge de lui. ' ' 

Pierre Regis fell at the siege of Villemur. The 
Huguenot leader opened a sudden attack, and rather 
than show their backs to the enemy, Regis and some of 
his companions more valiant than the rest, died in the 
attempt to hold their ground. 

At home, too, misfortune settled upon Pierre's family. 
Claire de MoUet's child died shortly after birth. 

Jean Regis, old and blind, broken with sorrow at his 
son's departure and subsequent death, was living out the 
remnant of his sad days. Sad days they seemed, but in 
the event he was blessed with a happiness far beyond his 
despairing hopes. 

A young shepherdess was one day tending her flocks 
outside the ramparts of Villemur, when she was suddenly 
startled by the apparition of a soldier bleeding from 
many wounds. But what was her amazement when the 
spectre began to speak : ' ^ I am of the family of Regis, ' ' 
he told her; ''I was killed in the siege of Villemur. I 
beg of you to go and tell mv relatives that I wish to be 



[5] 



SAIXT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

buried among my own and in consecrated ground. ^ ' A 
search was made, and the body of Captain Pierre Regis, 
still recognizable, w^as discovered. Preparations for the 
l)nrial were made at La Grasse and the body borne 
thither by hand. Poor old blind Jean was sitting 
quietly in his home w^hen the melancholy procession ap- 
proached. As the pallbearers came abreast the house, 
they felt overcome by a sudden weakness, and were 
forced to set down the coffin. 

The scene that follows recalls David's lament over 
Absalom. Jean came out into the street crying aloud: 
' ' Alas, my son, I remem^ber the time, — and woe the day 
for me, — when you went away to the war : I cursed 
you. If God has seen any disobedience in your act and 
has restored your ashes again to me in reparation, then 
I declare, my dearest boy, I grant the fullest pardon to 
your soul.'' 

The rest of the old man's story is short, and we may 
be pardoned the space it has already taken, since it does 
not seem to be one of those mere legends that sometimes 
find their way into the lives of the saints. Jean was 
reconciled now, if not happy, with regard to the fate of 
his son. But the consolation of his presence was sorely 
missed. Hence it was that he adopted and made his 
brother's younger son, Barthelemy, his heir. Barthelemy 
took the place of a true son to the old and sightless man, 
caring for him devotedly until the last summons came. 

AVe must now return to Antoine Regis and his two 
sons, Barthelemy and Jean. Antoine, the grandfather 

[6] 



AXCESTRY AXD PARE XT AGE 

of Saint John Francis Regis, had, as we have said, made 
a success of his business and done ninch to make the 
family name loved and respected throughout the sur- 
rounding country. Barthelemy and Jean lived with 
their father and mother at Carcassone. It was here that 
Antoine died in 1571. The widow and her two sons then 
moved to Fontcouverte, where they carried on, until 
1586, a sort of |)artnership with regard to their patri- 
mony and the legacy Barthelemy had received from his 
uncle Jean. It is in a contract drawn up between the 
two brothers, relative to their estates, that we find a 
meagre description of the house in which Saint John 
Francis Regis was born. AYe are told that it was situated 
"udthin the stronghold of Fontcouverte, bounded on the 
west and south respectively by the chateau of the Seig- 
neur and the house of Pierre Raynaud ; on the east and 
north by the moat of the stronghold. 

Barthelemy Regis was twice married. His first wife, 
Anne de Baronis, died not long after her marriage with 
Barthelemy, leaving him the two children of her former 
husband. The second wife was the amiable Claire Daban, 
who cared so faithfully for the little stepchildren. Bar- 
thelemy, despite the hopes he had cherished, was destined 
never to have an heir, all his children dying before him. 
But, as Father Cros remarks, there was born into his 
family one who was to shed greater lustre on his name 
than any child of his own ; for just twelve days after his 
marriage to Claire Daban, God sent to his brother Jean 
and to Marguerite, Jean's wife, a little son, Jean-Fran- 



[7] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

eois, known to all the world as Saint John Francis Regis 
of the Society of Jesus. 

Before we can begin the story of this great saint, there 
remains the discussion of a question which none raised 
until Father Cros, one of the Saint's recent biographers, 
discovered that Marguerite de Cugunhan was the happ}^ 
mother of the Saint, not Madeleine d'Arse, as had there- 
tofore been supposed. 

There are documents dating back as far as 1402 in 
which occurs the name of Cugunlian. One of a later 
date, 15-1-3, is the will of Philippe de Cugunhan, of 
Camplong, in which he makes his son, Francois, his heir. 
This Francois de Cugunhan was the maternal grand- 
father of our Saint. By his wife Catharine du Ferrier, 
he had two sons and one daughter. Marguerite, the 
mother of the Saint. 

On the sixteenth of September, 1576, her mother es- 
poused ]\rarguerite to Jean Regis of Fontcouverte. The 
civil marriage contract was between ''Catharine du 
Ferrier et son fils, d'une part; et Marie de Martrin de 
1 'autre. ' ' After mention in the contract of dowries and 
gifts, among which was the sum of two hundred livres 
payable within eight years from the celebration of the 
marriage, we find the folloA\dng agreement: ''If Mar- 
guerite survives her husband, she shall enjoy the pos- 
session of all the goods of Jean Regis. If Jean Regis 
survives, he shall enjoy during his lifetime Marguerite's 
dowry, which, however, shall revert, on his death, to the 
house of Cugunhan." 

[8] 



AXCESTRY AXD PAREXTAGE 

Thus far we know that Jean Regis' first wife was 
Marguerite de Cugunhan. Furthermore, we know from 
the following that Saint John Francis Regis w^as born 
on the thirty-first of January, 1597: ^'The year 1597, 
the last of January, on a Friday, was born our child 
John Francis; and Francis de Turin, called de Brettes, 
Seigneur and baron of Pecheiric, was his godfather, and 
damoiselle Claire Daban, wife of my brother Regis, was 
his godmother; and he was baptized in the church of 
Saint Julien, in Fontcouverte. " This document was 
signed by the Saint's father. In another document Jean 
Regis expressl}^ states that Charles Regis is his eldest 
son by Marguerite de Cugunhan. Xow, in order to 
clinch our argument that Marguerite was the mother of 
the Saint, let us quote a document with which the inval- 
uable researches of the late Father Leonard Cros, S. J., 
have favored us. The two things to be borne in mind 
in order to appreciate the force of this document, are, 
first, that Saint John Francis Regis was born in the year 
1597, and secondly, that the document shows Marguerite 
to have 'been still living in tlie year 1598: 

*'The year 1598 and the twenty-seventh day of May, 
in the city of Carcassonne, in my presence, royal notary, 
and that of the undersigned witnesses, themselves per- 
sonally present, to ^Y\t, noble Jean Regis, of Fontcou- 
verte, party of the first part ; and noble Charles de 
Cugunhan, Seigneur of Camplong, party of the second 
part. 



[9] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

''These same have stated that they coiitemphited en- 
gaging in a suit : firstly, for the sum of two hundred 
livrcs^ given by the late damoiselle Catharine du Ferrier 
to her daughter, damoiselle ]\Iarguerite, flic wife of flie 
said sieur Regis: and furthermore on account of other 
things .... and wishing to avoid a suit and live on 
good terms with their relatives and friends, have handed 
over the case of their differences, — that is, the said sieur 
Regis into the hands of M. Me. Jean Castaing, doctor, 
advocate at the court of M. le Seneschal: and the said 
Seigneur of Camplong into the hands of M. Me. Laurent 
Matheron, also doctor and advocate at the said court, to 
decide in the capacity of arbitrators . . . '' 

The second document follows : 

''The year 1598, the twelfth day of September, in the 
city of Carcassonne, in my presence, . . . noble Jean 
Kegis, of Fontcouverte, acting in his position as husband 
and "conjointe personne' of damoiselle Marguerite de 
Cugunhan, party of the first part ; and noble Claude 
d'Assier, . . . acting in his absence for noble Charles 
de Cugunhan of Camplong, his son-in-law, party of the 
second part. 

''These have declared that the said sieurs Regis and 
de Cugunhan are at suit for two hundred livres funiois, 
given by the late Catharine du Ferrier to the said Mar- 
guerite de Cugunhan, her daughter and wife of the seiid 
sieur Begis; and also on account of other things which 
the said sieur Regis and the said damoiselle, they heing 

[10] 



AXCESTRY AXD PAREXTAGE 

nnarried, pretend to claim from the said sieur of Camp- 
long . . . etc., etc. 

(Signed) Fabrt, notaire." 

AYe have quoted quite enough of these tedious but 
valuable documents to serve our present purposes. It 
may now be asked, what claim could possibly be put 
forward in behalf of Madeleine d 'Arse as the mother of 
the Saint? It is most probable that Madeleine was the 
second wife of Jean Kegis, and if this be so, we must 
suppose that Marguerite de Cugunhan died when little 
Jean-Francois was yet quite young, and that the boy^s 
father remarried not long after his first wife's death, 
since it was Madeleine d'Arse who brought up the Saint 
from his earliest years and on whom he ever looked as 
a good and true mother. 

One more point with regard to the Saint's family. 
His biographers claim for it the distinction of nobility. 
AYhat, briefly, are the grounds for this claim? 

It was only rarely that Jean Regis signed himself 
^^nohle/^ but we have seen that title given him in the 
various documents we have quoted. Antoine Regis, 
grandfather of the Saint. '' ennobled' ' himself, as it were, 
by the acquisition of property over Avhich he was the 
lord, as likewise did Antoine 's brother Jean, the Saint's 
granduncle. It would seem, however, that most of the 
nobility of the family came into it with Marie de 
Martrin, the Saint's paternal grandmother. She Avas of 
a really noble house : the Martrins d'Esplas. In addition, 
let us remark with Father Cros, that at all events Jean 



[11] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

Regis and his brother Barthelemy certainly earned as 
magnificent a title to nobility as could be desired, by 
their noble service to the Catholic cause as soldiers ^ ^ dans 
Tarmee des ligeurs. '' Finally, there attaches to the 
name of Regis, a renown far surpassing any earthly 
glory ; for it is not only the people of France that glori- 
fies that name, — and that were great indeed, — but the 
Universal Church recognizes a scion of the House of 
Regis as a Saint of God. 

It is in the sincere hope that so great a saint may be 
better kno^vn and loved, and glory given to God, as he 
himself would have wished, that we may now begin the 
story of Saint John Francis Regis. 



L12] 




Chapel at the Saixt^s Birthplace 



JoHx Fraxcis Regis : the Youth 



Alighting from the railroad at Monx, the modern 
pilgrim to the birthplace of Saint John Francis Regis, 
will take the omnibus along nearly two and a half miles 
of pretty roadway, before he emerges at last from among 
the vineyards into the little village of Fontcouverte, 
which lies at the base of one of the foothills of Monnt 
Alaric. Here, bnilt over the ruins of an ancient Car- 
lovingian stronghold, he will find the old church in 
which in the year 911, was held the Council of Font- 
couverte, under Arnurst, Archbishop of Narbonne, and 
in which Saint John Francis Regis was baptized, — the 
old bell, cast in 1584, ringing out the joyful news. 
Fontcouverte takes its name from one of its two springs ; 
fons co-opertus. Were it not for the Council held there 
and for the fact that it gave to France a sainted mis- 
sionary in her dire need of such a man, the little village 
would have no claim to renown; for as she was in the 
days of the Saint, so, practically, the stranger Avill find 
her today. 

The home of Saint John Francis was a house of 
moderate dimensions consisting of an English basement 
and one story. Six windows on each floor gave it a fair 
breadth. It was in this basement, in a room now made 
into a chapel, that the Saint was born on January 31, 
1597. 

[13] 



SAINT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

The little new-comer had not been long in the world 
when he was taken in the arms of his Aunt Claire Daban 
to the church Avhere he put on that white garment of 
innocence which he was to wear unspotted to the grave. 
Indeed, it could not well have been otherwise : one ever 
inclining to what Avas pious almost from infancy, con- 
secrating himself to Our Lady Queen of Virgins, and 
in after-life divinely chosen to bring back to repentance 
poor fallen women, — surely, such must himself be pure 
and spotless. No one, then, is surprised to hear the 
Saint's biographers attesting that, while he suffered 
cruel temptations when contradicted by men, tempta- 
tions we shall see him manfully conquering, yet never 
did he feel the sting of the flesh. 

Nov was there wanting care and vigilance on his part. 
He had read and taken to heart the words spoken of 
the Baptist : ' ^"Wine and strong drink he shall not take. ' ' 
And all this notwithstanding the fact that Saint John 
Francis' native province was Languedoc, whence come 
hot-blooded and vigorous southerners made for action. 
All of the Saint's energy, however, was pent up and 
under control, ready to burst forth in the service of 
God. 

One of such a nature Divine Providence must needs 
save and protect for future battles in His Name. Thus 
John Francis was singled out from his earliest infancy 
for the especial protection of God. Father Labroue, 
the Saint's first biographer and a w^riter who professes 
himself not easily persuaded to believe every legend 

[14] 



THE YOUTH 

related in the lives of the saints, tells the following: 
One evening when all in the household had retired to 
rest and little John Francis had been snugly tucked in 
his cradle for the night, the nurse turned the lamp 
low and lay doA\ai for a few hours of much-needed rest. 
Waking suddenly in the night, what was her surprise 
to find the lamp extinguished. Reaching out for the 
child, she was horrified to find the cradle empty. The 
house w^as aroused at once and a search made for the 
missing infant. After fruitlessly looking here and there, 
someone finally hit upon the right place, and there, 
quiet as a mouse and apparently uninjured, lay the 
child beneath the nurse's bed. This uncanny occur- 
ence took place there several times in precisely the same 
way. Where seek an explanation ? ' He hath given His 
angels charge over him,' thought the grateful parents; 
for the neighborhood of Fontcouverte was infested with 
gypsies, whose practice it was to steal young children 
for their incantations and hold them for ransom by the 
distracted parents. 

Among the very few details of the Saint's early days 
that we have, the following has come down to us. It 
is indicative of the turn of his thought even at the 
tender age of five years. While out walking with his 
mother one day, the little fellow suddenly looking up 
into her face, remarked with the solemnity of a judge : 
''Mamma, I shall be condemned!" (Ma mere, je serai 
damne!) 



[15] 



SAIXT JOHX FRANCIS REGIS 

The astonished mother, (or perhaps it was Madeleine 
d'Arse) exclaimed: "My dearest child, what are you 
saying ? ' ' 

^'To heaven, mamma, to heaven!'' (Au del, ma mere; 
an del.) 

Soon the time for lessons at home was at an end and 
John Francis Avas sent to school. It was not long before 
his sensitive nature asserted itself. He could not bear 
the harshly spoken words it was inevitable he should 
hear. Indeed, when it was seen that he was making but 
little progress with his books, Jean Regis began to fear 
his boy was going to be a dullard. But it took a vigilant 
mother to find out the trouble. The boy tried seriously 
to please his teacher, a gruff old man who seems to 
have had little sympathy with the failings of childhood. 
But try as he might, John Francis was continually 
getting into trouble. His gentle nature found harshness 
too hard against the grain. His mother saw that in this 
condition of affairs her boy could make no progress. 
That it was indeed his fear of displeasing his teacher 
that kept him back, and not lack of natural talents, is 
clear enough from the fact that as soon as the teacher 
was changed he began to go forward by leaps and 
bounds, so that by the year 1611,^ he was ready to enter 
the college of the Society of Jesus at Beziers. 



•'Others say 1613, but supposing John Francis to have filled 
out the customary five years at college before his entrance into 
the Society of Jesus in 1616, the date of his going to Beziers 
should be placed at 1611. 

[16] 



THE YOUTH 

The College of Beziers had existed some years before 
it was handed over to the Society of Jesus. The well-to- 
do citizens of the little commercial town had subsidized 
the institution out of the municipal treasury. Incom- 
petent management, however, was not the looked-for 
response to the efforts of the townsmen. Consequently, 
in 1599, the Town Council passed a resolution giving 
over the college to the care of the Jesuits. 

All necessary arrangements having been made with 
the Bishop, Mgr. Bonzy, and the Jesuit Provincial, 
Pere Alexandre Georges, the Jesuit staff of professors 
was installed for the opening of the scholastic year 
3599-1600. 

Pere Jean Gontery was the first Rector under the new 
regime. He found on the college register the names of 
only sixty students, but before the opening of classes 
that number had swelled to three hundred. Twelve 
years later when the institution had become somewhat 
of a center of secondary education, the register counted 
five hundred names, among which w^as that of Jean- 
Francois Regis. The College of Beziers was a boarding 
school, the boarders living in segregated houses which 
were under the surveillance of the Fathers. 

In one of these ''dormitories" John Francis with 
six companions took up his residence, thus beginning 
the first of his five years at Beziers — years that were 
destined to be of paramount importance in the forma- 
tion of his character, years filled with good works, the 
fruit of his example to companions and professors alike. 

[17] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

John Francis Regis' entrance into the College of 
Beziers marks the point in his life where he really began 
the work of making a saint of himself. Axid trnly, it 
was for him, as indeed for us all, make or break! 
Regis mnst have become a great saint, or, if he would 
make no efforts in that direction, he might easily have 
become a great sinner. But God had given him a 
susceptible character: he was now to take that high- 
souled nature and ennoble it, shape it, lopping off here, 
restraining there, adding to and enhancing the whole. 
Saint-making, just as soul-saving is essentially a per- 
sonal work. It consists for the most part in complete 
correspondence to grace; for neither John Francis 
Regis, nor any other saint became passively the men 
they were. Where we are sluggish, they are full of 
life; where 'temptation makes cowards of us all.' 
victory was their crown ; where we are indifferent to or 
prodigal of God's graces, they w^re zealots or misers, 
so that not a particle of the good gift passed them by. 

It was doubtless this earnestness of purpose that 
placed upon John Francis Regis the mark which made 
him stand out among the generality of the boys of his 
age. He preferred his books and the church to sports; 
he was quiet and retiring, but withal a good companion ; 
his was not a sour-faced sanctity. Though at first not 
w^ell liked among the boys, and never ' 'popular," still, 
on becoming better acquainted, he was always welcomed 
in whatever group he chanced to join. And of course, 
as is the case with every boy of his character, his ap- 



[18] 



THE YOUTH 

proach Avas the signal to hush an unseemly joke or 
improper Avord. John Francis was a member of the 
pious, but strangely named confraternity established at 
Beziers, known as the Blue Penitents; but unsatisfied 
with, the general good he could accomplish in this wider 
sphere, he got up a little society among the six boys 
with whom he roomed. As is to be expected among 
boys, his pious designs at first met Avith grins and secret 
laughter, but under the spell of the leader's seriousness, 
the fun made of his piety soon turned into genuine 
enthusiasm. Fixed hours AA^ere assigned for prayer, 
study and recreation. InstructiA^e and edifying books 
AA^ere read at table, and every Sunday the little associa- 
tion AAxnt to Holy Communion in a body. 

The favorite recreation of these scA^en, AA^hose names 
unfortunately haA^e not been left us, was fishing. Off 
they Avould go on a holiday for an outing along the 
banks of the Orb. On one of these occasions three of 
the boys Avere returning home in the afternoon under a 
scorching Languedoc sun, AA^hen they passed on the road- 
side a huge stack of AA^heat. Someone suggested taking 
a rest in the shade for a AA^hile. It AA^as a happy thought 
and soon the three Avere stretched out on the grass at 
the foot of the AA^heat-stack. Tired out AAdth their long 
day of sport, one by one they fell asleep. 

The Orb ran close by the AA^heat-stack, and at this 
particular place its banks dropped sheer to the Avater's 
edge. AYhat, then, was JTohn Francis' terror on sud- 
denly aAvakening to find that he had been Avalking in 

[19] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

his sleep and that his next step would have sent him 
headlong into the river. The frightened boy turned back 
and fled to his companions, who were still sleeping by 
the wheat-stack. Hastily awakening them, John Francis 
begged them to join with him in thanking God for his 
narrow escape, for once in the swift little river, he 
must surely have drowned, as he had not yet learned to 
swim. 

And so the school days sped happily on, and with equal 
pace there was developing in John Francis Regis a 
strong, manly character. He found it arduous work, 
no doubt, to begin thus early in his career to carry on 
a relentless campaign against self. Perhaps there are 
those who do not envy him. Such cannot have a true 
concept of what manner of man this saint really was. 
It cannot be too forcibly insisted upon that John Francis 
Regis — that no one in fact — was a saint because he did 
not enjoy life, because he did not enter into the feelings 
of other men. On the contrary, never has a saint lived 
so much for men or so much among them: men both 
good and bad, men who contributed not a little toward 
making him the saint he was. Indeed it may not be too 
much to say, that had some far-seeing individual known 
John Francis as a boy at Beziers, he might have pre- 
dicted with fair certainty that here was indeed a leader, 
here Avas one to cast a spell upon men for good or for 
evil. Once more let one of the few anecdotes of the 
Saint 's early years illustrate. Who could not have loved 
and admired the hero of the following incident? 



[20] 



THE YOUTH 

A lively dispute was going on one day among a group 
of the boys at the College of Beziers. One of the 
Professors standing nearby decided he would find out 
the cause of so much fervent speech. Drawing near 
unnoticed, he overheard a remark from John Francis 
Regis that the view of the matter taken by his adver- 
sary was out of the question, simply ridiculous: ''I'll 
bet you anything I'm right and you're wrong!" 

No sooner said than done ! There were no stakes to 
hold, so boy-fashion it was agreed that the loser should 
owe the other a stated sum of money. But where was 
the Professor? For was he not the only arbiter possible 
in the matter of the pronunciation of a Latin w^ord? 

John Francis, of course, was wrong. And here, as all 
thought, the matter ended. But it was not alone the 
boy's spirit in maintaining his opinion, nor his humility 
on being declared w^rong that won him a place in the 
hearts of his companions, but most of all it w^as his 
sense of justice which prompted him long after the 
affair w^as forgotten to seek out his adversary and in- 
sist on paying off his bet. ''No," he said, when his 
companion showed reluctance in taking the money, 
"I bet, and I lost; so you must take the money!" 

How small a thing in itself this little incident is, 
yet how much it presages for the future of Regis. 
Earnestness, humility, justice : these will be met with 
frequently in the Saint's after-life. 

And it w^as of his future that the boy now began to 
think. He was beo^inninp^ to ask himself that momentous 



[21] 



SAIXT JOHX FRANCIS REGIS 

question : ' ' What shall I be ? " Speaking from a 
natural point of view, almost any profession was open 
to him, and each held out hopes of fair success. But 
he had learned not to consider the matter from one only 
angle. The question for him in secret thought and with 
his director in the confessional, was not : " ' For what am 
T best fitted by nature f — but, ''In w^hat state of life, 
supposing I have both inclination to it and natural 
aptitude, shall I be most certain of saving my immortal 
soul and advancing the glory of God?" 

It is not likely that any were surprised to hear that 
John Francis Regis was not to return to the College of 
Beziers next year, but would begin his noviceship at 
Toulouse, as a Jesuit. And though his face was gone 
from among the boys and he was for a time forgotten, 
still, in later years, the college was always proud that 
she had nourished so great a saint. Nowhere, perhaps, 
was devotion to Saint John Francis Regis better fostered 
than at the College of Beziers, where the boys loved to 
recite the prayer composed in honor of their patron : 

'"Glorious Saint, thou who hast been the ornament 
and glory of this college, and ^^dlt ever be its mainstay 
and support, I cast myself at thy feet in all confidence 
and conjure thee to take me under thy protection. Re- 
member that thou wast one day as I am now, and that 
here it was that thou didst enter upon thy study of the 
science of the saints. Thou knowest the grievous 
dangers in which a student is placed: he may possibly 
become a great sinner. But thou, vessel of election, 

[22] 



THE YOUTH 

hast preserved thy innocence in the very face of tempta- 
tion and evil example. And I, in my wilfulness, my 
faithlessness to duty, and because of a thousand faults, — 
hardly had I come to the knowledge of God before I 
had offended Him ! thou, whom zeal for the salvation 
of souls did consume, look upon my weakness, have 
pity, pray for me! Obtain for me the grace of con- 
trition for my sins and that never again may I fall 
without abundant tears of expiation. Grant that follow- 
ing thy example, I may fly all idleness and thus make 
progress in learning; that by thy powerful aid I may 
exhale on all sides the sweet odor of Jesus Christ, 
to the end that I may praise and bless Him eternally 
with thee in Heaven! Amen.* 



"An echo of tins student devotion to Saint John Francis 
Regis has resounded in Xew York City, where at Begis High 
School, conducted by the Jesuit Fathers, there flourishes the Guard 
of Honor, under the patronage of our Saint. The students recite 
the following prayer: 

^^O most holy patron, Saint John Francis Regis, most faith- 
ful folloAver of Our Lord in thy unselfish devotedness to promote 
His Honor and Glory, I beseech thee, through thy ardent love 
for His Sacred Heart in the Most Blessed Sacrament and through 
thy tender devotion to His Immaculate Mother, to obtain for me 
by thy powerful intercession, God's special blessing upon my 
labors during the course of my studies. Obtain for me from the 
divine Source of love and wisdom the strength of will to apply 
myself constantly and a ready understanding, a quick and re- 
tentive memory, an easy and pleasing way of exjDressing my 
thoughts. Be thou moved, O most holy Patron, by the deep 
confidence I place in thy intercession that all my actions may 
begin, continue and end for God's greater glory and under thy 
fatherly protection. Amen.'' 

[23] 



THE SAINT IN RELIGION 



JoHx Feaxcis Eegis: The Jesuit 



The iioviceship has been called a kind of forge in 
which religious are fashioned, and the process of striving 
for perfection and oftentimes falling short of the ideal, 
is the hammering that shapes the instrument. Still 
influenced by his manner of living heretofore, the novice 
must show what is the grade of his ^^malleability," by 
changing his likes and dislikes and looking at things 
from a spiritual standpoint. He has his one master- 
principle : constant tendency toward perfection and it 
is this that will shape and influence his whole life to 
come. Not indeed that he is expected to arrive at per- 
fection, even after the lapse of many years, but he 
must, according to his own vow, tend always in that 
direction. 

Such were the dispositions in which John Francis 
Eegis left home for the Novitiate at Toulouse. Under the 
advice of a wise and experienced confessor he had come 
to the decision that he must become a Jesuit. He had 
the inclination and the ability, nor did circumstances 
forbid. He did not ask a clearer sign of his vocation, 
but wisely set about making things easier for his 
entrance into the new and strange life of the noviceship. 
Prayer and studies were increased and recreations cut 
down. It must not be thought, however, that he turned 

[27] 



SAINT JOHX FRANCIS REGIS 

hermit in preparation for his new life, for we are told 
that he gave up most of the summer of 1616 to sports. 
His reason for this, was, perhaps, to gain all the benefits 
outdoor exercise could afford, for in the early spring 
John Francis Regis had suffered a severe attack of 
fever, which had brought him almost to death's door. 

The summer's recreation built up the young man's 
constitution, so that on Monday, December the seventh, 
the eve of a day in later years to be celebrated as the 
feast of the Imm.aculate Conception of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary, he was able to enter the Jesuit Novitiate at 
Toulouse. It was at this same time that Saint John 
Berchmans was entering the Society of Jesus in Belgium. 

John Francis Regis had now left home, parents, 
friends and companions to begin his lifework. But be- 
fore we watch him as he labors incessantly at his task, 
it will be of interest to become acquainted with his 
fellows in the noviceship. AYe do not know them all 
by name, but they were eighteen in number. Ignace 
Ai*noux, who was later on to be one of Regis' most 
valuable friends in need, was a novice at this time. 
Jean Veyssiere, who died young and in the odor of 
sanctity; Michel Charbonier and Louis Lascombe, were 
others of his fellow novices. There also lived with these 
novices an old gentleman named Armand Boret, who 
had left the world and was ending his days here in the 
simplicity of the Novitiate. He was much esteemed by 
the novices as a man of orreat sanctitv. 



[28] 



THE JESUIT 

It may on first thought be expected that one so nmch 
inclined to silence and prayer as was Regis, might on 
throAving himself into a life where these were the chief 
duties, turn out one-sided. Such was not the case with 
the new novice, if we are to credit the accounts of his 
biographers. He knew well how to combine seriousness 
of purpose with affability and lovableness in his dealings 
with others. Spirituality which loses sight of the fact 
that we are ever social beings is always repulsive; and 
the fact that John Francis Regis was so universally 
liked is indication enough that he had with all his 
prayer and severity of mortification, a sweetness of 
disposition calculated to win many a soul to God in 
later life. True enough, he was silent when it was time 
for silence, thus, as Saint Ignatius says, showing his 
humility: but he talked and laughed too, as merrily as 
the rest when it was time for recreation. He was exact 
without being wooden, liberal without making specious 
interpretations of what duty required. 

One of Regis' recreations was to stop while out Avalk- 
ing, at the magnificent Basilica of Saint Saturninus. 
This ancient church dated from the beginning of the 
fifth century and had survived all the ravages of bar- 
barism. It was filled with relics of the most famous 
saints and martyrs of the Church and rich in privileges 
for the visitor. John Francis Regis used to go about 
from altar to altar praying with fervor, now to this 
saint, now to that, hardly knowing where to tarry 
longest. It was omng to his visits to Saint Saturninus' 



[29] 



SAIXT JOHX FRANCIS REGIS 

that he was inspired with the desire for martyrdom. 
Accordingly, he began to pray with might and main for 
Ihat grace, not forgetting that he who would shed his 
blood for Christ, must first and a fortiori endeavor to 
overcome every evil inclination in his soul. This desire 
of martyrdom w^as a well-spring for Regis, from which 
he drew great graces for his advance along the hard 
road of perfection he had chosen. With martyrdom 
before him as a goal, John Francis counted the little 
trials to which his Novice Master, Pere Pierre Lacase, 
subjected him, as little things indeed. But with severe 
logic he reasoned that if they were little compared to 
the sacrifice he was one day to make, they ought there- 
fore to be undergone with wholesouled generosity. 
Hence we find him patiently teaching catechism to the 
children, and assisting the sick and dying in the hospital 
with as much earnestness and charity as if there were 
nothing on earth he so much enjoyed. And all the 
while John Francis Regis was building up a character. 
He was downing the old man, taking him off and putting 
on Christ, not as a man changes his coat — easily — but 
with much pain to self. 

Oftentimes a generous soul as was that of Regis wall 
not bear patiently with the failings of others. Such 
characters cannot understand why everyone is not as 
generous and liberal with the Lord as are they them- 
selves: why should anyone wish to cheat the Lord or 
His Ministers? The natural consequence of such a view 
is to be harsh with others and blame them for faults 



[30] 



THE JESUIT 

which, they do not really intend to commit. But with 
Eegis it was far otherwise: if a thing was not nn- 
qnestionably wrong, he always managed to find some 
good in it. Or if he could not excuse the culprit, he 
said nothing at all, realizing that with what measure 
you mete, so shall it be meted to you. He only knew 
that there was a certain John Francis Regis who merited 
first attention when there was question of reprehending, 
and accordingly wondered whether he were not himself 
as deep in the mud as his brother in the mire. 

Nearly two years of this life, which in the eyes of 
the world is foolhardy, passed happily away, leaving 
John Francis Regis a newer man. He had added much 
to the already excellent disposition he had brought with 
him to the Society, and now the time was approaching 
when he was to seal with his oath the desire ever to 
increase in holiness and zeal in the service of the Master. 
This he regarded as a privilege of no small moment, for 
it is not given to all who desire it to pronounce the 
vows of religion. The death in 1617 of one of his com- 
panions, Francois Revoult, on the anniversary of his 
entrance into the Society, made him realize this fact the 
more clearly. 

It was probably in 1618, in the month of October, that 
Regis was sent with five of his companions to Cahors, 
where he was to begin his studies, and at the same time 
to practice in real earnest all the lessons he had learned 
so well in the Novitiate. He had now the rules of the 
Scholastics to observe, and these rules reminded him 

[31] 



SAIXT JOHN FRAXCIS REGIS 

that in the hot pursuit of his studies, he must not forget 
that he is still a religious, and that a religious must 
always and everywhere, no matter what his occupation, 
preserve the fervor of his spirit. He must study, yes; 
but study must be regarded as a means to an end. This 
new path was not easier than that he had been following, 
but for that very reason he set out upon it with no less 
ardor and devotion. 

At last the ''Dies Promissorum" came, and John 
Francis Regis could now proudl}^ and happily sign him- 
self a Jesuit.*' This had been his heart's desire — should 
he not now prove himself worthy in some measure at 
least to bear alongside his own, the Name of Jesus? 
Students of medicine, of law ; followers of an}^ profession 
made daily sacrifices of self and worked with untiring 
labor until the goal of their ambition was reached. His 
oan'U cousin, as he no doubt had often heard told, had 
persisted even in the face of a father's anger, in his 
intention of going off to the Catholic wars, thus making 
sacrifice of one of the dearest ties that bind man to 
earth : should he not also therefore — John Francis Regis 
— of the same blood as Pierre, show himself as generous, 
nay, more generous still in this same cause of the Lord ! 



"The date of John Francis Regis' first vows was probably 
December the eighth, 1618, or possibly later in the same month. 
Father de Curley says that the Saint made his first tows at 
Cahors ^^ toward the end of the year 1618.'' The vows were 
certainly not pronounced before the eighth of the month, as this 
^N'ould have been contrary to the custom of the Society of Jesus, 
which has always been that the first vows may not be taken even 
one day before the completion of two full years of noviceship. 

[32] 



THE JESUIT 

For John Francis was now a soldier of Christ in a 
sense even more intimate than had been his kinsman, 
and if for no other reason he would fight the good fight, 
since to be a brave soldier of Christ was part of the 
family pride ! 

Arriving at Cahors, Regis found there one of the 
Fathers he had known at Toulouse, Pere Gaspard 
Dumas, who was to be his Rector during the one year 
of his Juniorate to follow. The Juniorate in the Society 
is the period immediately following the Noviceship. It 
is a kind of second noviceship in which a careful watch 
is kept over the young religious in order to make sure, 
while greater liberty is granted him in smaller details, 
that he get a good start along the path of his duties. 
He is no longer a spiritual infant, but must learn to 
walk, so that henceforth he may depend under God, for 
the most part upon himself. The time of the Juniorate 
is usually spent in the study of Poetry and Rhetoric, 
and if necessary, Grammar. In Regis' case the time was 
shortened to one year, so that, as Father Daubentoir 
puts it, after having obtained '^quelque teintiire de 
I'eloquence/' he was ready for his philosophical studies. 
The Reverend Father Provincial, however, must have 
needed professors in the colleges, for he interrupted the 
ordinary course, and instead of sending Regis to his 
Philosophy, made him Master of the lowest class at the 
College of Billom. where his old professor of the days 
at Beziers was Rector, Pere Jean Malpoix. 



[33] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

M. Regis' teaching period Avas divided into two parts, 
he spent the years 1620, 1621 and 1622 at Billom, and 
then went to Tournon for his Philosophy. After three 
years at Tournon he taught grammar at Puy for two 
rears and at Auch for one. 



[34] 



JoHX Fraxcis Regis: The Educator of Youth 



The Reverend Herbert Lucas, S. J., has given us an 
excellent sketch of what the Scholastics in a Jesuit col- 
lege should be, and, as he says, are in actual fact. 

''Now in order to have education it is plain you must 
have an educator. And Saint Ignatius wished the mem- 
bers of the Society of Jesus in the earlier — though not 
quite in the earliest years of their religious life — to be 
competent and trustworthy educators of youth, of 
course under the guidance of superiors of mature age; 
and he planned and devised at least the rough draft of 
a system of education, which, after his death was 
elaborated, and has since been modified in various 
particulars, so as to suit the various and changing needs 
of different countries and times. For the present, how- 
ever, I am concerned with the man rather than the 
system, for on the man the efficiency of the system must 
depend. Of what sort, then, is this comparatively youth- 
ful educator of youth — the Jesuit Scholastic, in the best 
and freshest years of his early manhood — to whom 
Catholic parents are invited, if so it pleases them, to 
confide in great measure the training of their boys? 

''Let me sketch him as I think he would be according 
to the mind of Saint Ignatius, and as I believe him to 
be in actual fact. It would be absurd to pretend that 

[35] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

he is on tlie average, a man of exceptionally brilliant 
talents, a hero, or a saint. But he is a man who, having 
a very moderate estimate of his own powers, is quietly 
and resolutely determined that they shall be devoted 
entirely and without stint to the service of His Divine 
Master, and to the service of his boys for the sake of 
God; a man who makes the law of generosity, not the 
law of parsimony, towards God, the rule of his life; a 
man whose habitual question is not : ^ How little am I 
bound to do ? ' but : ' Is there anything more I can da 
for God and my boys?' Comfort, amusement, self- 
indulgence of all kinds, he has learned to despise; or 
rather hardly thinks of them, except in so far as some 
measure of relaxation is needful to keep him in con- 
dition for the efficient discharge of his duties. And 
here again his question is not: 'How much of these 
things can I manage to secure from the indulgence of 
my Superiors?' but rather: 'How far can I contrive 
to do without them?' Externally calm and quiet, it is 
possible that at first sight you might think him lacking 
in enthusiasm; but, in truth, he has so trained himself 
to work up to the very limit of his power, that he 
-wastes no energy in useless excitement. And if you 
could penetrate the secrets of his morning prayer, and 
of his habitual recollection, you would find that there is 
indeed a hidden fire of enthusiasm under the calm and 
modest exterior. For in his novitiate, and in his yearly 
retreats and daily meditations, he has kindled and kept 
alive, deep down in his heart, this threefold conviction : 
(1) that there is one Man and only one. Who is worthy 

[36] 



THE EDUCATOR OF YOUTH 

of our heart's loyalty, and that Man is Christ Jesus 
Our Lord; (2) that there is one work and only one 
that is worthy of man's entire self-devotion, and that 
is the work that He came on earth to do, the work of 
the salvation of souls; and (3) that there is one way^ 
which He chose, the way of self-denial, suffering, humili- 
ation, — the Way of the Cross. Now our young Jesuit 
Scholastic knows very well, of course, the heavier crosses, 
great suffering, grievous humiliations, severe mortifica- 
tions, are the choice prizes of life, such as fall only to 
the few. He hardly expects them for himself, at least 
in the present stage of his life. But if he cannot have 
humiliations, he can rejoice in obscurity and in the sweet 
peace of the hidden life ; and you could not do him a 
greater disservice than to make a fuss about him, or pay 
him empty compliments. If it is not given him to endure 
severe sufferings, at least he will thankfully bear the 
cross of daily drudgery, of a somewhat monotonous and 
wearing existence, in which to something more than the 
toils of the paid schoolmaster are added the exercises of 
the religious life ; and he wishes for nothing better than 
to go on working for God in some equally obscure em- 
ployment, unknown to the world at large, and unnoticed 
by his neighbor, until the night comes when a man can 
work no more. He knows that 4t is good to wait with 
silence for the salvation of the Lord.' He knows that 
^it is good for a man when he has borne the yoke from 
his vouth. ' "* 



'■At the Parting of the Ways: Herbert Lucas, S. J. : London 
and Edinburgh: Sands & Co.; St. Louis, Mo.; Herder: 1906. 

[37] 



SAIXT JOHN FRAXCIS REGIS 

It might seem at first sight that we have wandered 
far from the life of Saint John Francis Regis, owing 
to the quotation of this excellent passage from the dis- 
tinguished Father Lucas; but only a little reflection 
reminds us that the life of the Scholastic just described, 
was, together with all those ideals and principles, the 
self-same life that John Francis was now beginning to 
lead. 

From the day M. Regis had taken his vows, he had 
with all ambition, looked forward to the time when he 
should be permitted to ''reign'' over his little kingdom, 
the classroom, to teach his boys not alone book- 
knowledge, but the knowledge and love of God. Per- 
haps he had thought that this time was as yet three 
years distant, but, as has been seen, the Reverend Father 
Provincial gave him a surprise by sending him in 1620, 
to the College of Billom, where he began his teaching 
in the lowest class. Here was a practical application of 
something he had learned: perhaps he had had ambi- 
tions, just coming from Rhetoric, of teaching that 
''Queen of the Arts." If so, he was thus practically 
reminded that one usually begins from the beginning. 
Whether Regis thought one Avay or another in this 
matter, is, of course, mere speculation, but at all events 
he entered upon these new duties with that full char- 
acteristic zeal and earnestness we have thus far con- 
tinually seen in his life. 

M. Regis seems to have been a favorite with the boys, 
— and they with him. His modesty and unassuming air 

[38] 



THE EDUCATOR OF YOUTH 

excited the deep and cogent esteem one always feels for 
a man of great holiness. His love of the small boy's 
character, his delight in being with him, aroused among 
the students a spirit of loyalty to him and made him 
the object of that kind of hero-worship of which boys 
are always guilty with regard to the teachers they like. 
M. Regis took advantage of his ''popularity'' to ac- 
complish the principal work a Scholastic among his boys 
has to do : influence their souls for good, unobtrusively 
and imperceptibly making deep character-impressions 
upon them. No boy thought that because M. Regis was 
kind and ahvays let you do as much as the rules 
allowed, he w^ould, on that account, overlook a glaring 
fault or permit a culprit to go unpunished. Sometimes 
the boys, ever, it would seem, working off animal spirits, 
tried the professor's patience severely; but he managed 
to stamp out the first sparks so that a conflagration 
never took place. Father Labroue, the Saint's first 
biographer and one of his pupils at Puy assures us that 
it was impossible to hear Regis talk of pious subjects 
without being deeply touched. It is indeed a mistaken 
idea to think that boys do not like to hear ''pious talk." 
They do; as witness in proof, many an upturned, in- 
terested, innocent face, as the professor diverts for a 
moment adroitly away from some pagan hero to show 
how the real Hero Whom ive love and adore, so far 
surpasses the peccable and uninspiring gods of ancient 
times. Real solid piety was so much a part of Regis' 
class that he is responsible, we are told, for the custom 



[39] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

which exists in some Jesuit schools of interrupting the 
class routine to recite in unison a Hail Mary. How 
sweet this manly devotion on the part of these little 
Knights to their Lady Mother Mary! How sweet and 
refreshing to every Catholic parent to think that today 
also, as in Saint John Francis Regis' time, there are 
not wanting self-sacrificing men and women to keep this 
sort of angelic watch and ward over God's little lambs, 
lest the wolf steal in and tear them ! 

Such an influence as M. Regis had over his charges — 
many of whom lived to become great men — was not 
easily to be forgotten. One of his former pupils at the 
age of eighty years, spoke of his professor with tears 
in his eyes and declared that even though the Church 
had not seen fit (at that time) to raise him to her 
altars, still she need feel no risk in allowing the venera- 
tion of the faithful full sway. Even outside the circle 
of his class Regis made his influence potently felt. It 
was his custom to go on a Sunday to the country where 
he taught the simple peasantry their catechism and 
preached them little sermons. On one occasion while 
thus engaged, a woman cried out as did the woman in 
the Gospel : ' ' Heureuse la mere qui a enf ante un tel 
flls!" 

It is good to read that on these missions, while at 
table after the services, Regis would be as merry and 
amiable as the hearts of his simple hosts could have de- 
sired, thus not only bringing them the tidings of the 
Gospel, but showing that saints are not as they are 

[40] 



THE EDUCATOR OF YOUTH 

sometimes erroneously conceived: an abstraction, but 
real living human beings on fire Avith the love of God! 
The sublimity of true sanctity does not harden the ten- 
derness of the heart ! 

The Saint's chief work was, however, with his boys. 
For them he underwent the drudgery of explaining 
grammar ; put up with their failings ; for them he spent 
himself. Once it came about that one of his little men 
was so unfortunate as to become entangled in some 
scandalous affair which gave great public disedification. 
When the matter first came to Regis' ears, his habitual 
control gave way and he burst into tears. Naturally 
the boys were much affected, and the professor took 
advantage of the occasion to Avarn them of the judgments 
of God. 

Another of Eegis' class was taken sick and in fact was 
soon near to death. The kind-hearted professor went 
every day to visit the little invalid, cheer him, and 
sympathize with his parents. One day M. Regis entered 
the boy's home and found the family gathered around 
the bed weeping and praying. Without coming farther 
than the threshold of the sick-room. Regis called out to 
the dying boy: ''Courage, Jacques my boy, courage! 
You are not going to die ! ' ' From the moment Jacques 
began to improve and was soon back in class and on the 
campus romping around again with his companions. 

Altogether M. Regis spent six years in his teaching 
period. Surely we may conclude without rashness, even 

[41] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

from such an imperfect picture as his biographers have 
left us, that he had made a success of his regency, that 
he had been a good teacher. What sort of a pupil was 
he himself to prove? 



[42] 



JoHX Fraxcis Regis: The Student and Peiest 



Success had attended almost every effort John Francis 
Regis had made during the years passed as professor at 
the Colleges of Billom, Puy and Auch, and he had 
every right, humanly speaking, to consider himself a 
person of some importance. It was, however, exactly in 
this respect that he differed from others who perhaps 
found it difficult and hard on human nature to become 
the taught instead of the teacher: he took a generous 
and supernatural view of the matter. It was his busi- 
ness, as he had learned long before, to gain the maximum 
amount of human learning with the minimum loss of 
fervor of spirit. He had too much common sense to be 
dreaming about the things that were, when the things 
that are, cried out for attention. His surroundings at 
Tournon, the House of Studies, were well adapted to 
the end set before him: there was a capable staff of 
professors to direct his progress in theological science, 
and his Rector was Pere Jean-Francois Suares. This 
holy man was Regis' steadfast friend, and he together 
Avith the Minister, Pere Bernard de Saint-Martin and 
Pere Claude de Saint-Colombe, the Spiritual Father, 
not only put no obstacle in the young man's way, but 
encouraged his zeal and fervor in every possible manner. 

[43] 



SAIXT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

First of all Kegis was allowed to keep up relations to a 
certain extent, with the outside world. He was not yet 
a priest, but, argued Superiors, this man of such ex- 
ceptional qualities must not be hindered from seconding 
the efforts of our priests. He was accordingly appointed 
companion to the Father who ministered to the little 
village of Andance. Every Sunday and Holyday the 
two would set out, and whilst the Father would be 
hearing confessions and visiting the sick, Regis would 
be ringing his bell to gather about him the children for 
catechism. The influence he wielded over these children 
was marvelous. It communicated itself also to their 
parents, and soon they too began to assemble at the 
familiar sound of the little bell. The sight of his grow- 
ing audience was an inspiration to the young missionary. 
The way he conducted himself is characteristic: we 
always find him taking advantage of trivial circum- 
stances in order to do good. He called to mind the old 
school days at Beziers and how he himself had belonged 
to the Confraternity of Blue Penitents. AYhy not 
something similar for these simple people ? Such w^as the 
obvious conclusion from what he saw about him: good, 
simple folk, anxious to engage in religious exercises. 
Regis' own devotion to the Blessed Sacrament led him 
to select this channel into which he might direct the piety 
of the people. Accordingly he established in the village 
the Confraternity of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The 
good effected by this institution among the country-folk 
is incalculable. Thirtv vears later when Father Labroue 



[4-1] 



THE STUDENT xVND PRIEST 

was writing the first life of Saint John Francis Kegis, 
he was able to record that the Confraternity of the 
Blessed Sacrament at Andance was still flourishing. 
When the terrible days of 1791 brought with them their 
religious intolerance, the Confraternity was suppressed ; 
but four years later it was reestablished and began anew 
the good work inaugurated by the Saint. 

Another outlet for Regis' zeal shows us that he had 
not forgotten the home he had once known at Fontcou- 
verte. 

Many saints have made use of letter- writing as a most 
efficient means of keeping in touch with those whom 
they may be able to influence for good. Whether or not 
some special occasion called for the following letter from 
Regis to his brothers and sisters, cannot be determined, 
and indeed, matters not. It shows us his habitual view 
of the things of life. It is only to be regretted that we 
do not possess more of Regis ' letters. Their quaint style 
along with their solid spirituality is most refreshing. 

' ' My dearly beloved brothers and sisters : 
^'It is the love of Our Dear Lord that I bring you: 
and it is this same love that has impelled me to put 
before you one or two little considerations that are ever 
so important and profitable for you. Now at the same 
time I have convinced myself that you will receive them 
in exactly the same spirit which prompts me to set them 
before you, and in no other, surely. 

''In the first place I want you to behave toward our 
dear father and mother much better than I used to when 



[45] 



SAIXT JOHX FRANCIS REGIS 

I was home. I am sorry for the way I used to act. Next, 
I want yoii to be very loving among yourselves, bearing 
with each other like good brothers and sisters should. 
Finally, I want you to abhor mortal sin from the bottom 
of your hearts- — mortal sin, the greatest of all evils, 
since it causes the loss of heaven, which is the greatest 
of all good things. AVhy, all the riches of the world are 
as naught compared with the rewards of heaven given to 
those who keep the commandments of God. For they 
are the pavement of the only road to that happy home 
of ours ; while on the other hand, the violation of these 
commandments is the road to hell. Sin, I tell you again, 
is what changes us from children of Grod to children of 
the devil. Just think a little, what sort of a father a 
sinner has when he offends God mortally, thus leaving 
God for the devil. Yes, mortal sin makes us heirs of 
eternal fire and the pains of the damned! Oh, Jioiv I 
ivish tliat everybody could realize the seriousness of 
mortal sin! Then who could be so unfortunate as to 
commit even one! 

^'For this reason I exhort you to go frequently to Con- 
fession and Holy Communion, — say, on the first Sun- 
day of every month; for this is the most efficacious 
means of guarding against sin, and of rising again 
should one have fallen. 

^'An evening examination of conscience, too, would be 
very useful for the same end, that is, to find out how you 
have sinned in word, thought or act, and humbly beg 
God's pardon, being sorry since you love Him so dearly, 

[46] 



THE STUDEXT AXD PRIEST 

for the faults you may have committed and telling Him 
how firmly yon resolve to amend. 

''If yon do this, and walk daily in the path of God's 
commandments, heaven will be your reward — heaven 
where it is my hope we shall all be gathered together in 
eternal bliss. 

''Your most affectionate brother in Our Lord, 

" JoHX Fraxcis Kegis. 

"Please give my best regards to my Uncle and Aunt, 
M. de Laprade and M. Denos, and my other relatives." 

In the fall of 1628 Regis returned to the scene of his 
former noviceship days. It seems that besides Tournon, 
the Society had also a house devoted to Theological 
Studies at Toulouse. 

Hardly had the Scholastic year begun when the 
plague broke out in Toulouse. At Puy and throughout 
Languedoc in general the pestilence was raging. Father 
de Curley tells us that of the sixty Fathers of the Society 
who offered themselves to serve the plague-stricken, not 
one was favored with the palm of a Martyr of Charity. 
The Scholastics who were as yet stud\dng Theology w^ere 
removed to the summer-house in the country, — famil- 
iarly kno^\^i as the ^^Tilla/' 

Regis seems to have realized that to obtain permission 
to serve the plague-stricken was quite out of the ques- 
tion. At least, we have no record of his making the 
attempt at this date. He began, however, to make up 

[47] 



SAIXT JOHX FRANCIS REGIS 

for this loss in a manner peculiar to the saints. AVhen 
at home in Toulouse, each Scholastic had his own private 
room, but when at the summer-house, two and even 
three had to occupy the same room after the fashion of 
a small dormitory. It so happened that the companion 
assigned to Regis Avas a light sleeper. Every night when 
the rest were all fast asleep, he would hear Regis get up 
and go to his prie-dieu, there to spend the greater part 
of the night in silent union with God. At home this 
austerity had gone unobserved in the privacy of the 
Saint 's room. But now that he had been found out, the 
Scholastic thought that Superiors should be warned of 
Regis' excess. The Superior at the time was Pere Fran- 
cois Tarbes, a man of very mortified life. In conse- 
quence, the well-intending Scholastic received an answer 
perfectly in keeping with the character both of the Saint 
and of his Superior: ''Beware of troubling Regis' 
prayer or of putting any obstacle in the way of such a 
SAveet union with God. The time will surely come w^hen 
the Society will celebrate a solemn feast day in honor of 
the sanctity of your companion. ' ' 

AVas Pere Tarbes a prophet ? 

The year 1629 brought some respite for Toulouse from 
the ravages of the plague, so that the Scholastics re- 
moved again to the city. 

It must have been during his long vigils at the Villa 
that Regis learned to contemplate how utterly unworthy 
he was of the grand dignity of the priesthood now so 
fast approaching. But his was not the fallacious argu- 

[48] 



THE STUDEXT AXD PRIEST 

nieiit that some misguided souls of our day have used 
against the daily reception of Holy Communion. He 
realized, of course, his own unworthiness, but knew it as 
his own. Never for a moment did he doubt of the reality 
of his vocation, for he knew it was the Almighty that 
must supply the deficiencies of the instruments He 
chooses. It appears that Kegis is often held blame- 
worthy by not a few for his conduct with regard to his 
ordination, for when a whole year of study yet remained 
before the time when ordination is usually conferred, he 
asked to be raised to the priesthood. 

There are many possible explanations of the Saint ^s 
intentions, which, of course, charity demands we should 
suppose were good. Some think that he wished thus to 
avoid the Profession of the Four Vows, — the highest 
rank in the Society of Jesus. Such means would have 
been effectual certainly, but it is not likely that Regis 
should have employed them, since the Society demands, 
of her sons that while they may not ambition the Pro- 
fession, still they must do all within their power to ren- 
der themselves worthy of it, that is, become men of 
extraordinary learning and holiness.* 

What seems more probable is that Regis was anxious: 
and holily impatient to give himself heart and soul to* 
the priest's work he saw all around him; for if the 



"Clement XI, in the Bull of Canonization, sj)eaks of Regis 
as ^^ Professed priest of the Society of Jesus.'' When the Holy 
Father's attention was called to the error, he replied: " Se is 
Professed, for I malce him so.'' 

[49] ; 



SAIXT JOIiX FRAXCIS REGIS 

plague had abated at Toulouse, it was still raging 
throughout the rest of Languedoc and hiuidreds of souls 
were crying for aid. This, we think, is what carried him 
to his Superiors, begging to be ordained at once. But 
does it not almost shock us to hear him bribing the Su- 
perior, as it were, with the promise of thirty ]\Iasses in 
ease he were ordained? 

In point of fact, however, was Eegis really ordained 
before his time? When all the meagre evidence we have 
has been well considered, it seems that he was not. Ac- 
cording to Daubenton the date of the Saint's ordination 
was 1630, and that of his first Mass the 26tli of May in 
the same year. But there are good reasons forbidding 
the adoption of these dates. First, there is extant a letter 
of Regis to his stepmother, Madeleine d'Arse, dated May 
23rd, in which he says not a word about the supposedly 
approaching first Mass. This is most improbable. Sec- 
ondly, it is not to be supposed that Regis would be 
writing a letter, the theme of which dealt wholly with 
the plague, while in the midst of the retreat which al- 
ways precedes ordination in the Society. Furthermore, 
we have a letter dated June, 1631, in which he promises 
his stepmother that he will not forget her in his first 
]\lass, which he is to celebrate on Trinity Sunday, June 
15. 1631. 

Regis was a priest then, at least by 1631. The long 
years of preparation had been faithfully spent and he 
had received the reward so out of proportion with the 
merits of even the best — the awful power of calling 



[50] 



THE STUDENT AXD PRIEST 

down upon our altars the very God of High Heaven and 
dispensing His tender mercies to a sinful race. 

Once ordained the young priest threw himself into the 
work of his first ministry with all the usual ardor of his 
generous soul. His first assignment was in the Autumn 
of 1631, to the newly inaugurated College of Pamiers. 
Superiors had at first intended to use Regis as a Pro- 
fessor in the schools, owing no doubt to the success he 
had achieved as a Scholastic. He was again assigned to 
the lowest class. His stay, however, at Pamiers was 
destined to be of short duration, as we find him return- 
ing to Toulouse in 1632, in order to make his Tertianship 
or Third Year of Probation. 

The young candidate for the Society of Jesus begins 
his life as a Jesuit by a rigorous two years' noviceship. 
He then follows the course through which we have traced 
Regis, and after ordination must spend one more year 
of probation preparatory to taking the Last Vows, by 
virtue of which the Jesuit is ^ ^ complete. ' ' This year, 
familiarly known as the Tertiansliipy is given up en- 
tirely, with the exception of some little priestly ministry, 
to self-examination and correction. If aught of the 
^^old man'' remains since the noviceship days, here in 
the Scliola Affecfiis or Scliool of the Hearty it is put off, 
and Christ put on. 

Details of Regis' life as a Tertian Father are almost 
entirely wanting; and indeed, they could contain but 
little of interest for the general reader. It may be sup- 
posed without rashness that as ever Regis gave himself 

[51] 



SAIXT JOHN FRAXCIS REGIS 

entirely to his work. It was a work in which lie de- 
lighted: the mastering of self. 

When the term of the Third Probation was com- 
pleted Pere Regis was assigned a duty that was to be of 
great importance in determining his future work; for 
it was owing to the success he achieved in his task that 
the Very Reverend Father Grcneral, Father Mutius 
Yittilleschi, decided to make Regis a missionary. 

Family difficulties had arisen at Fontcouverte, the 
nature of which is not clearly known. There seems to 
have been some misunderstanding with regard to the 
settlement of the family estates. There were in all 
thirteen persons to satisfy, and since this could not be 
done by those concerned, Jean Regis wrote to the Gen- 
eral of the Society, asking that his son be allowed to 
come to Fontcouverte as arbitrator in the affair. The 
Reverend Father General wrote informing Regis that he 
was to go. Regis had not seen Fontcouverte for sixteen 
years, namely, since he had left for the novitiate in 1616. 
He made the journey on foot in true apostolic style, 
living by alms and camping wherever night overtook 
him. 

Regis' stay at Fontcouvert was not by any means 
to be one of rest from the ministry. Let us quote a 
passage from a quaint old life of the Saint, the only 
one in English heretofore in existence :* 



"It is a translation, made in 1738, of Father Daubenton's 
life, by one ''C. M." We have been informed that ^'C. M.'' 
is none other than the famous Father C. Murphy, S. J., of the 

[52] 




Eh 

H 

> 

O 
O 

o 



THE STUDEXT AXD PRIEST 

^^ "While he sta^^ed there the following was his Method 
of Life. 

"He preached to the People in the Morning, and 
expounded the Catechism to the Children: after which 
he heard Confessions of such as presented themselves. 
In the Evening, a little before Night, he made a second 
Sermon. The remaining Part of the Day was taken up 
in visiting the Poor, gathering the Alms of the Rich, 
and distributing what he had collected to necessitous 
Families according to their Occasions. The Employ 
which most delighted him, w^as to comfort them to a 
happy Death. He often spent whole Nights with them. 
"When he walked about the Town he was constantly 
attended with Flocks of Children and Poor. To be 
with them, to relieve the one, and instruct the other, 
Avas his greatest Pleasure. 

"His Brothers held considerable Rank among the 
Chief of that Place; and as they onl}" saw his Conduct 
under the false Lights of a deluded World, they could 
not dissemble their Trouble, nor forbear their bitter 
Reproaches on that Account. They represented that he 
ought to moderate his Zeal; that there was an Hospital 
and a Prison in Town, where he could exercise his 
Charity ; that if he desired to succour the Poor in their 



Irish Province of the ^^Old Society.'^ After Father Murphv'S 
book had gone out of x)rint English-speaking readers were de- 
pendent, in order to learn anything of the life of Saint John 
i'rancis Eegis, on accounts in a foreign tongue, until Father 
C. C. Martindale, S. J. gave us a charming sketch in his little 
book: ^^ Captains of Christ.'^ 

[53] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

AVaiits, their Purse was at liis Service; that it in no 
AVay became him to walk the Streets as a Beggar, 
mumping from Door to Door, and constantly followed 
by Numbers of Children and Crowds of AYretches. 
Regis answered with much Sweetness, that as a Chris- 
tian, he made it his Glory to serve the Poor; and he 
respected Jesus Christ in them, he esteemed it a great 
Honor to have their Company, to converse with them, 
and beg Supplies for such as Shame, or Sickness hin- 
dered from procuring the Relief they wanted.'' 

The Saint's brothers could not but be satisfied with 
this answer, but only for a time. Regis' zeal drew forth 
further expostulations from his brothers, who imagined 
that Pere Francois was compromising their name. 

One day Pere Regis was going about among the poor 
of the town, when he discovered a man reduced to 
such poverty, that his very bed of sickness was nothing 
but the bare earth. Immediately Regis w^as off in search 
of a mattress. On his return he had to pass a group of 
soldiers who Avere loitering near a street corner. The 
sight of a man laboring along under the weight of a 
huge and unwieldy mattress would surely be enough 
to set off a crowd of ruffians. And to this crowd Regis 
presented such a sorry sight that immediately the 
soldiers began to cat-call and hoot at him, run after 
him and pull at the mattress and call him names. Regis 
did not venture a remonstrance of any kind, but took 
it all as a huge joke, picturing himself a poor dray- 
horse. 

[54] 



THE STUDEXT AND PRIEST 

Regis' brothers, however could not see the point of 
jokes such as this. The humble missioner was again 
called to task. He gave practically the same answer 
as before, in a calm, unemotional sort of tone. But 
w^hen his brothers insisted that he must moderate his 
zeal, he seemed to fire up a little. He gave them to 
understand that he was a priest of God, and that as 
such, nothing he could do to relieve the suffering mem- 
bers of Christ was beneath his dignity, even if it cost 
him a painful humiliation. 

Despite their dislike for the Saint's methods his 
brothers respected Eegis highly, and when the time 
came for his departure, he had settled the family 
differences to the satisfaction of all concerned. His time 
at Fontcouverte had not been ill-spent. The change for 
the better among the townsfolk was so pronounced that 
reports of it reached the ears of the Father Provincial, 
Avho wrote to the Father General that in his opinion 
a great mistake would be made if Pere Regis were not 
appointed a missionary and allowed to devote all his 
time to that kind of work. Reverend Father Vittilleschi 
was much pleased with the result of the undertaking, 
and sent word that Regis was to be made a missionary 
without further delay. Henceforward, then, w^e shall see 
him as the ^'Operarius Inconfusibilis'' of whom Saint 
Paul speaks in his second epistle to Saint Timothy. 

The Saint's missionary life, like that of his eminent 
brother, Francis Xavier, did not extend over a long 



[55] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

period of time — only ten years in the case of each — 
but ''in a short time he fulfilled a long space." 

Let us follow him, then, to Montpellier, whither he 
was sent in this same year, 1632. 



[56] 



Joh:^ Fka^-cis Eegis: The ^^Operarius In- 



CONEUSIBILIS ' ' 



'^SoUicite cur a teipsum probabilem exliibere Deo, 
operarmm inconfiisibilem, recte tractantein verbum 
veritatis.'' (2 Tim. 2:15). 

After the names of many of the priests of the So- 
ciety of Jesus, one may see in italics the abbreviation: 
Oper. This stands for Operariiis, and signifies that the 
Father after whose name it appears is particnlaiiy en- 
gaged in the functions of the Sacred Ministry or in 
general parish work, in contradistinction to the other 
works the Society performs, such for instance as the in- 
struction of youth. 

The text which stands at the top of this page : ''Care- 
fully study to present thyself approved unto God, a 
workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly handling 
the word of truth," has been thus interpreted by the 
late Father Matthew Eussell, S. J.^ Father Russell 
writes : ' ' .... for all men are, or ought to be, work- 
ers, toilers, laborers, operatives, operarii, of some sort 
or other; and each in his own special work ought to 



"Cf . At Some With God, Rev. M. Russell, S. J., Longmans. 
[57] 



SAIXT JOHX FRANCIS REGIS 

aim at being inconfusibilis, ^unconfouiiclable/ con- 
fusion-proof, irreproachable, able to face the closest in- 
spection without any fear of being put to the blush. 
A great deal of the household work of domestic servants, 
a great deal of the work done by contract at the public 
expense or by private enterprise, a great deal of the 
results of human labor of every kind, would be more 
perfect if every detail of it were sure to be examined 
at the time and on the spot by some competent anci 
incorruptible overseer. AYell, such is precisely the case 
with regard to all the duties of life in all the various 
vocations of mankind. Bens videt. God sees.'' 

It will be our present task to show how Saint John 
Francis Regis conformed to the above ideal of an 
Operarius InconfusihiJis. 

I. First Ministry 

The College of Montpellier, whither Pere Regis was 
sent in 1632, boasted the distinction of having been 
established, only a few years before Regis' arrival there, 
by Louis XIII himself. 

Regis was not destined, however, to take part in the 
activities of the college. His success at Fontcouverte 
had settled once and for all the field of his future labors ; 
he was henceforth to be an Operarius Incojifiisihilis. 
And truly, Montpellier afforded him opportunity 
enough to test his right to that name. For the city was 
one remarkable for its admixture of both good and evil. 

[58] 



THE ^^OPERARIUS IXCOXFUSIBILIS'' 

Although naturally piously inclined, the people, like 
the Athenians of old, were greatly given to the pursuit 
of novelty; whence, it is not surprising that they fell 
easy victims to both heresy and licentiousness. 

It was, then, no small testimony to the virtue of 
Pere Regis and manifestation of the trust placed in him 
by Superiors, that he w^as sent to such a dangerous field 
of operations. 

While at Montpellier Regis pronounced his final vows, 
which made him at last a Jesuit full and complete. The 
formula of the vows, signed by his own hand, is as 
follows : 

''I, John Francis Regis, promise to Almighty God, 
in presence of His Virgin Mother Mary, and the whole 
Court of Heaven, and to you Reverend Father John 
Martin, proxy for the Provost-General of the Society 
of Jesus and his successors, holding the place of God 
Himself, perpetual poverty, chastity and obedience and 
that peculiar care of the education of youth set forth 
in the Apostolic Letters and the Constitutions of the 
said Society. Montpellier, the sixth day of November 
and the year 1633, in the church of the College.'' 

(Signed) John Francis Regis. 

Pere Regis had hardly begun his ministry at Mont- 
pellier when he had established his reputation as a 
preacher far above the ordinary. He combined in his 
person all the qualities and accomplishments so neces- 
sary for a good sacred orator : a lifetime of preparation 

[59] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

ill prayer, a penetration of revealed truth that astonished 
the most able theologians, and, best of all, a heart of 
burning zeal. It was from this heart that he poured 
out upon his hearers the unction that brought them 
penitent in hundreds to the feet of Christ. Finally, the 
Saint's utter and homely simplicity attracted to his 
pulpit, not the simple alone, as was to be expected, but 
persons of every class. William Pascal, a man who had 
preached from the grandest pulpits of France, was 
forced to admit: ^'It is in vain that we spend our time 
in writing ornate sermons. The catechetical instructions 
of this sainted missionary hold the people in admiration, 
and conversions without number are their fruit. 
"Whereas we, after lavishing so much care on our ser- 
mons, must suffer the disappointment of but rarely 
finding anyone to pay us polite attention. More rarely 
still do we find anyone touched by our sermons or 
showing emotion.'' 

On one occasion, however. Regis was persuaded to 
preach a sermon of more than ordinary polish. The in- 
cident brings out well the fact that he was far from 
a man of narrow views. It is another example too of 
Avhat seems almost innate humility. 

"While on the missions with one of Regis' younger 
brethren, it so happened that the conversation turned 
on sermon-writing. The young Priest held that Father 
Regis ought to spend more time and care on his sermons. 
The fact, he maintained, that a sermon is embellished 
with the arts of the rhetorician, does not make it less 



[60] 



THE ^^OPEEAEIUS IXCONFUSIBILIS^' 

a sermon, but rather renders the word of God more 
acceptable to weak hnman nature. After all, was not 
Horace right? AYas it not the admixture of the agree- 
able with the useful that told for the best results? The 
young man could not imagine, so he said. Regis con- 
demning the eloquence of the Fathers of the Church: 
but had they not preached the word of God? 

Regis was not slow to grasp the grain of truth in 
his companion's arguments: he did not detect the 
fallacy, however, which lay in the false assumption that 
simplicity is not the grandest eloquence. 

The good missionary set to work, then, and prepared 
what he considered a grand sermon, and when the 
time came to preach it, invited with him as critic, the 
companion of his former journey. When the wonderful 
sermon had been preached, — and, we are told, not with- 
out effect on his audience, — Regis sought out his friend 
and begged not to be spared, but that he give him 
plainly his unvarnished opinion. The young man seemed 
at first reluctant, but as the sequel proves, soon over-^ 
came his feelings. The first point to be corrected was 
the Father's voice; then, his gestures were quite 
awkward indeed ! The tone of his language might be 
forgiven had he been more careful about one or two 
points of doctrine. The division, the arguments .... 
well, these too might have been better. But his figures ! 
Where on earth had he got them ! And so on and on : 
fault was emphasized and virtue damned with slight 
praise. It is hard indeed not to picture this critic. 



[61] 



SAIXT JOHN FRAXCIS REGIS 

like so many of his modern successors, finishing off with : 
''On the whole, though, Father, I think you did quite 
well.'' In all fairness, however, to the critic, it must 
be admitted that history owes this anecdote to the man 
himself. 

There is no need to tell in what spirit Regis took 
his friend's criticism. He thanked him warmly, and 
when the young priest saw the effect he had produced, 
began at once to apologize for his harshness. Regis 
would not hear him. He made a huge joke of it all, 
considering himself the deserving butt. 

It is small wonder that a man like this won persons 
of all classes to himself, and through himself, to God. 
One aged woman, reared from her cradle in Calvinism, 
he brought into the Church in the evening of her life. 
He espoused the cause of a poor Huguenot girl, a 
servant, who had been brought to law by her master 
for a petty theft. Though doubting the sincerity of 
her wishes to become a Catholic, Regis told himself he 
was not the one to condemn. He went to the judge and 
to the girl's master, begging so earnestly to have her 
let off that neither judge nor master could resist him; 
and so the sentence was not carried out. No sooner was 
the girl free, however, than Regis' worst suspicions 
were confirmed: she returned to Calvinism. When re- 
minded of her case the Saint would always stoutly 
affirm that he could never be sorry for having performed 
an act of charity. 



[62] 



THE ^^OPERAEIUS IXCOXFUSIBILIS^ ^ 

The prisoners too were objects of Regis' kindness. 
In order to make this work permanent and practical, 
he sinnmoned to his aid from among his friends in the 
upper classes, some thirty ladies, who took turn about 
in furnishing dinners at the prison. 

All these, however, may justly be termed the lesser 
manifestations of Pere Regis' saintlike charity. What 
we are compelled to regard as the greatest of his works 
for sinners, is his care of a class of unfortunates upon 
whom a cruel world looks with an eye of unpitying 
scorn. One so preeminently angelic in thought and act 
as was Saint John Francis Regis, simply could not but 
shudder when he realized that there were those in the 
world who had stained the white robe of their baptismal 
innocence with sins of impurity. But such, sad to say, 
was very much the case in the France in which Regis 
lived. ]\Iontpellier especially suffered from this curse, 
and it was the missionary's firm determination not to 
rest until every poor abandoned woman had been 
brought back again to that innocence of life which had 
been hers in the sweetness — the incomparable sweetness 
of childhood. But with full realization of the magnitude 
and importance of his task, he took for his watchword 
that saying of so many saints before him: ''If I can 
prevent but one only mortal sin, I shall not have 
labored in vain." 

Not everyone would have been fitted for the perilous, 
and some may say, futile work Regis was now about 
to undertake. The man for this enterprise must not in 

[63] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

the slightest degree be below the high estimate formed 
of his brethren even by the enemies of the Society of 
Jesus. For at Avhat opportunity of slander would the 
foes of Christ grasp with more avidity than this, where 
they beheld a man dealing, as Regis did, with persons 
of the lowest possible character? But the Saint was 
thoroughly qualified in every way for his dangerous 
Avork, — not indeed in his own estimation, for as he 
himself avowed, without the support of the Most High, 
this work, as all others, must be doomed to sad and 
miserable failure. 

It was thus that the man's faith shone out as a bright 
star from dark clouds of foreboding. For while diffi- 
culties multiplied and multiplied again, Regis never 
hesitated a moment, nor doubted but what God in whom 
he put all his trust, would see him through to a happy 
end. Human aids, to be sure, he must make use of — and 
he sought them — but in God alone he placed full con- 
fidence. This was the secret of his success. 

The principal field of Regis' labors in this work of 
charity was first at Montpellier, and afterwards at 
Puy, where even greater success attended his efforts. 

The Saint's tactics in the actual carrying out of his 
work were bold. The district devoted to the miserable 
traffic he designed to ruin, lay in the suburbs of the 
city. Thither, then, he went, accompanied by an ap- 
pointed companion, and fearlessly entered the very 
houses of the poor unfortunates, (thus he chose to regard 
them), nor could he feel that lack of sympathy toward 

[64] 



THE ^^OPERARIUS IXCONFUSIBILIS ' ^ 

them shown by such as tried to dissuade him from his 
purpose. The results Avere marvelous : hardly two suc- 
cessive days could be counted that did not witness a 
victory over the demon of impurity, so that before long 
very few indeed remained to be conquered. 

But how w^as Regis to insure the permanence of these 
sudden conversions? This w^as the most difficult portion 
of his task. For the most part the poor creatures de- 
voted to this kind of life, followed it as a means of 
livlihood. How were they henceforth to live, if they 
must now lead lives of purity? Regis was equal to the 
occasion. He w^ent among his friends of the upper 
classes and accomplished the well-nigh impossible in 
persuading them to take his penitents into tlieir very 
liomes. This is a marvel of the Grace of God and the 
work only of one of His Saints. Who could suffer 
persons of such a character as Pere Regis' penitents to 
have a place in their very homes? Yet we are told as 
many as ten, fifteen and even twenty were cared for 
by a single family! True, it was Regis' intention to 
establish a Refuge at Montpellier, so that the arrange- 
ment was only temporary", but this work had to be left 
for another, for w^hat with his numberless labors in 
other fields and his subsequent removal to Sommieres, 
he found the Refuge impossible of immediate accom- 
plishment. It was only after he had left Montpellier 
that the Refuge was built. 

At Puy where Regis was stationed in 1634, the same 
w^ork was carried out Avith even greater zeal and more 

[65] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

substantial results. He found conditions at Puy as bad, 
if not worse than at Montpellier ; and his knowledge 
that such was the case was the only signal needed to 
start him at once in his work of rescue. 

He made small beginnings, it is true, placing the few 
he converted under the care of his friends. Hardly, 
liOAvever, had the good work begun than it met with 
opposition. The lady who had been his most generous 
aide in caring for his penitents, came one day to Regis 
and regretfully told him she could no longer help him 
by keeping them in her home. 

''Both you and I,'' she comjjlained, ''are getting a 
bad name.'' 

"Ah, my daughter/' answered Regis, "let us not 
take revenge on the Lord for the things we suffer at 
the hands of men." 

Unaffected by this reply, the good woman insisted 
that she could no longer keep the penitents, who, she 
declared, were hardly penitent after all. They would 
surely go back to their former life, leaving Pere Regis 
and herself the laughing-stock of their enemies. 

Regis' only reply was to point to his crucifix. 

He saw clearly, however, that a Refuge was neces- 
sary if the work was to go on. At that time the idea was 
novel and required no little planning for its accom- 
plishment. Little indeed did Regis realize the trouble 
this Refuge would bring upon him, but even had he 
known all beforehand, it seems impossible that he 



[66] 



THE ^^OPERAKIUS IXCOXFUSIBILIS^ ' 

should have hesitated a moment, so much was his heart 
set upon the saving of abandoned Avomen. 

Among the first steps toward the establishing of the 
Refuge was to take counsel with several friends and ask 
their financial aid. And while they would not refuse 
the latter, nearly all foretold failure as the inevitable 
outcome of the scheme. The Saint's answer to all ob- 
jections was characteristic: '*If I were establishing the 
Refuge with the aid of man alone, there might be some- 
thing in what you say.'' 

Up to the present Regis had been merely finding his 
way: he must now obtain formal consent of his Supe- 
riors. It must be frankly admitted that it seems 
strange to see Regis approaching his ecclesiastical Su- 
periors before asking permission of his more immediate 
religious Superiors. This is not the ordinary Avay of 
conducting such business. Still, an explanation is af- 
forded to such as think one necessary, in the hypothesis 
that possibly the record of events as handed down to us 
by the biographers, does not follow a chronological 
order. At all events, the approbation of the Bishop 
was sought and heartily given, as was also the support 
of the Vicar General. With such eminent men on his 
side Regis could hardly have expected to meet with op- 
position from his own. But so it was, for his Superior 
at first refused to allow Regis to have anything to do 
with the Refuge. The Saint made representation as 
clearly as he could, but still, the Father Rector held out. 
The opposition, however, for some reason or other was 



[67] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

short-lived; consent was finally given and the great 
work began. 

From the very outset peace and order reigned at Saint 
Agatha's Refuge. Under the care of a competent 
matron the penitents soon learned to love their new 
life of virtue. But the Devil, so cleverly cheated by the 
establishment of the Refuge, was not long inactive. He 
raised a veritable storm of persecution against the holy 
man. 

The trouble began from without. It w^as but natural 
that those most offended by the establishment of the 
Refuge would be the youth of the city who had been 
deprived of sinful companions. Numbers of these 
young ruffians masked themselves and dressing up like 
Regis went about the streeets exhorting people in mock 
sermons to a virtuous life. The missionary's voice, man- 
ner and gestures were copied with ridiculous burlesque. 

Knowing that Regis would never refuse a sick-call, 
no matter what the time of day or night, one of a band 
of the young men would go to the college and beg to 
have Father Regis accompany him to some fictitious, 
death-bed. Without hesitation Regis would always ac- 
company his guide, w^ho usually led him into some dark 
street, where on turning a corner the missionary would 
be met with shouts of laughter and volleys of filthy re- 
marks. Often enough not even his person was respected, 
so that he was forced to run the gauntlet amidst cries 
of derision. 



[68] 



THE ^^OPERAKIUS INCONFUSIBILIS ^ ^ 

On one occasion, hoAvever, God would not permit His 
priest to be insulted in the carrying out of a work so 
pleasing in His sight as was the rescue of the impure. 
A certain man, enraged at having been deprived of the 
partner of his sin, determined on a plan of vengeance 
worthy of the Father of Lies himself. The fellow was 
sh^neless. 

After dark one evening, a good woman, a friend of 
the Saint, knocked excitedly at the rectory door and 
asked to see Eegis at once. As usual Eegis lost no time 
in coming to the parlor ; he seemed ever on the lookout 
for sick-calls. 

' ' Mon Pere ! Mon Pere ! ' ' the woman cried. ' ' Go at 
once! You will find them at ^The Rock' — the bad 
woman and the man! God will be offended!" 

'^Do not fear, my good friend: the woman of whom 
you speak is not a woman, but a man in disguise, ' ' was 
the Saint's dispassionate reply. 

God was sparing His servant a great humiliation. 

If Regis ' enemies counted on maltreatment as a means 
of stopping his work, they soon discovered their mis- 
take and let him alone. For many the very persecu- 
tion of the Saint turned out to be their salvation. How 
often a hand was arrested by some invisible force, as it 
was raised to strike him in the face. One indeed, in 
the act of thrusting a knife into the missionary's heart 
was thunderstruck to hear him bid him wait just a 
moment, that he desired to make a brief act of contri- 
tion. The knife fell from the murderer's hand and 



[69] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS EEGIS 

with it the film from his vision ; he beheld in the patient 
man before him a strong Saint and in his work the 
Finger of God. 

It is not beyond belief that had Regis been asked 
fairly and honestly, he would have replied that persecu- 
tion from without ruffled his peace but little. "What 
Vv^as a slap in the face, if not a reminder that he for 
whom he was working had Himself suffered the same 
insult ? To what did adverse public opinion amount, 
Avhen weighed in the balance with the approval of God ? 
Let insult then be the price he must pay in order to do 
the work of saving sinners : he would call it cheap. But 
what of persecution from within ? It is not credible that 
he bore this with the same equanimity with which he 
met the insults of the rabble. For Saint that he was 
he was not less human, and must have felt it keenly 
when even his owai turned against him. 

A man capable certainly of knowing better, but one 
undoubtedly impelled by sincere motives, placed himself 
in the w^ay of Regis' work. He w^as no other than the 
Saint's own Superior, Pere Sebastian Vineau. In all 
justice, however, it must not be said that Pere Vineau 
was hard on others without being a tyrant to himself. 
All things considered it seems an unfortunate circum- 
stance that Pere Vineau was placed at the head of the 
College of Puy. Indeed, had higher Superiors listened 
to the protestations he himself made during four months 
after his appointment, things might have been other- 
wise. 



[70] 



THE ^^OPERARIUS IXCOXrUSIBILIS^' 

It will be remembered that at the very outset Pere 
Tineau had given his consent for the work of the 
Refuge only with reluctance. It is not remarkable, then, 
that he carefully watched developments, and on behold- 
ing the storm of persecution that broke over Regis, took 
alarm. He feared not only for the bodily safety of his 
subject, but for the good name and reputation of the 
college as Avell. What would people think, nay more, 
say, when they saw Regis in communication with such 
an abandoned lot as were the inmates of the Refuge. 
Let the work, then, go on if it could, but Regis must 
have nothing to do with it. 

In vain did the Saint make to the Rector the repre- 
sentations allowed by the Rule. There was but one way 
open to him and that the safest, obedience and submis- 
sion. True son of Saint Ignatius that he was, his com- 
pliance Avas perfect. Nothing could induce him to go 
near the Refuge or have anything to do with it. In the 
eyes of the world, what was this? Plainly, weakness 
and lack of self-assertion, inconstancy. But the eyes of 
the world looked through colored glass ! 

Yet, in spite of Regis' perfect obedience, he was 
plunged into a sea of perplexity. "Was the work God 
had inspired him to do and which in the face of so much 
adversity had thus far prospered so well, — was this 
work to see a premature end, all on account of the mis- 
guided opinion of one man? Still, what could be done 
that had not been tried? He had begged the Superior 
even upon his knees to reconsider his decision. No? 
Well, then, he would give it up ! 

[71] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

Not as yet recognizing the temptation with which the 
real enemy of his labors was assailing him, Regis wrote 
to the Provincial asking to be removed to another col- 
lege. The letter granting the permission was no sooner 
in his hands than he saw that he mnst not make nse of 
it. Such a course would be sheer cowardice. The part 
of the man and of the Jesuit was to face the trouble. 
Fortified with this resolution it seemed to Regis that 
there was nothing he would not gladly endure for the 
sake of the salvation of the souls of his penitents. And 
after all, could there be any doubt but what this was the 
design of Divine Providence? Out of his own suffering 
his work would grow strong. 

The Saint was not to be disappointed in the matter 
of suffering. His Superior put him through a very 
martyrdom. He was reprehended in private and in pub- 
lic for his most ordinary actions ; his will was crossed on 
every occasion. He was not even allowed the consolation 
of bodily mortification. He was refused permission to 
assist a dying man who was publicly known to be in the 
state of mortal sin. (Of course, the Superior sent some- 
one else.) ''Very well," said Regis to one of the other 
Fathers, ''but I shall not get a wink of sleep tonight.'' 

Who could blame the Saint for wishing to avoid at 
least the occasions of persecution? But such was not 
the case. One of his companions with whom he had 
been on a missionary excursion, told him on the way 
home that he knew for certain that the Superior had a 
new humiliation in store for him on their return. "But 



[72] 



THE '^OPERARIUS INCOXFUSIBILIS ' ' 

I knoAY YOU are not guilty, moii Pere; I shall speak to 
the Eector. ' ' Regis begged his friend not to interfere. 

This cloud, however, was bound to reveal its silver 
lining, and the hand that turned it was none other than 
the Superior himself. True, it was not until the opin- 
ion of even the people of Puy demanded different treat- 
ment of Regis, that Pere Vineau recognized in the mis- 
sionary a great saint. And as heretofore he had been 
relentless in persecution, so now there was nothing he 
was unwilling to do in order to restore to Regis full 
liberty in his Heaven-inspired work. This sudden repar- 
ation came none too soon, for shortlj^ after Regis took 
charge of the Refuge again, Pere Yineau was sent as 
Rector to Beziers, being replaced at Puy by Ignace 
Arnoux, the friend of Regis' noviceship days. These 
two men understood each other perfectly and in conse- 
quence the Saint was now more free than ever to go on 
Avith the work of the Refuge. 

The penitents were overjoyed to have their Spiritual 
Father restored to them, while on his part Regis spared 
neither time nor labor in their behalf. He increased the 
revenue of the establishment and witnessed the begin- 
ning of an era of prosperity. Thirty souls now clients 
of Saint Mary ^Magdalene and under the patronage of 
Saint Agatha, were learning to love a life of purity and 
to thank God for their deliverer. Deliverer indeed he 
had been, and was now about to show himself their 
protector. 

At about seven o'clock one evening a loud knock 
sounded at the door of the College of Puy. 

[73] 



SAIXT JOHX FRANCIS REGIS 

''Tell Pere Regis to come at once! The young men 
are going to turn the penitents out and burn the 
Refuge!'' 

In a few moments Pere Regis was at his Superior's 
feet begging permission to go to the Refuge and save 
his penitents. 

"But what can you do singlehanded, mon Pere?" 
reasoned Ignace Arnoux. 

''I will stand on the doorstep and they will have to 
kill me before they can set foot within the house ! ' ' 

''Ah, mon Pere; I cannot allow^ you to expose your- 
self so rashly ; / will be accountable for any damage they 
may do. " 

Regis was losing time. Even now, perhaps, the ruf- 
fians had forced Saint Agatha's. The thought was a 
torture. 

''Accountable f he cried. "Will Your Reverence be 
accountable for thirty lost souls ! Ah, let me go ! Let 
me die for these souls ! See ! I am worthless ; but think 
of their souls ! ' ' 

Pere Arnoux was himself a man of zeal. He could 
not resist an appeal like this: ''Go," said he, "and 
Grod be with you ! ' ' 

Regis fairly rushed from the room, confident he was 
going to his death. But what was death? Had he not 
implored the Father General to send him to death on 
the Canadian Missions? Well indeed, he thought, had 
the General refused, for here was martvrclom at home ! 



U^] 



THE ^^OPERARIUS INCONFUSIBILIS ' ^ 

The zealous man encountered Pere Antoine Mangeon 
at the door, and pausing a moment, made his last will 
and testament: ''Father, the Procurator has some 
money I gave him. Will you see that it is given to the 

poorr' 

Meanwhile the ruffians had made their attack on the 
Eefuge, but just as soon as they began battering down 
the door, the screams of the frightened penitents 
aroused the neighborhood and the band was dispersed. 
Thus the Saint was a martyr of charity only in desire, 
and thus Saint Agatha's was saved. 

Another and more subtle attack was made on Regis 
because of the penitents; but it was destined to failure 
like the rest. Thanks to Pere Ignace Arnoux, no amount 
of calumny that reached his ears, even when his own 
subjects were its well-intending bearers, could induce 
him to interfere with the Saint's work. On the con- 
trary, he wrote as follows to the General of the Society 
of Jesus at Rome : 

''I have no doubt, very Reverend Father, that you 
have received letters in a spirit hostile to Pere Regis 
and complaints against his so-called transports of mis- 
guided zeal. I beg you not to be deceived by any false 
pictures that may have been drawn of this holy man. 
He is an indefatigable worker, [Operarius Inconfusi- 
hilis!] a man who draws not a single breath save for the 
Glory of God. He is animated with the zeal of an apos- 
tle, nor can there be any human consideration that keeps 
him at his work. And indeed, it is this fact that has 

[75] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

caused so many sinners and men of scandalous life to 
oppose hini; hence also certain Fathers of the college 
have been alarmed at the hue and cry these men have 
raised against him throughout the city. But I can as- 
sure you in all truth that not only have I not found 
the least cause for blame in him, but on the contrary, I 
have found him eminent in many virtues and most de- 
serving of praise. Furthermore, if he is engaged in a 
warfare against scandal, it is not with more zeal than 
prudence : he is relentless in rooting out sin, but he 
manages his penitents with all possible sweetness and 
charity. Finally he is a man of obedience and people 
are beginning to call him 'The Saint.' " 

A little later the Father Provincial added his own 
praise to the above magnificent tribute; but it was not 
necessary, for any fears the General might have enter- 
tained must have been allayed by the closing sentence of 
Pere Arnoux's letter: ''He is a man of obedience. '^ 
This was the crowning praise, the last word. If Regis 
was a man of obedience, and yet bad reports concerning 
his conduct were in circulation, these must be the result 
of envy or misapprehension; for fanaticism and true 
religious obedience will not go hand in hand. 

To the perfect satisfaction, then, of his Superiors, and 
certainly to the untold consolation of the Heart of 
Christ, Saint John Francis Regis went on with the work 
so dear to him, and in the end rested triumphant over 
the three arch-enemies he was combating: the AYorld, 
the Flesh and the Devil. 



[76] 



THE ^^OPERARIUS IXCOXFUSIBILIS ^ ' 

//. Tarious Labors 

The establishment of Saint Agataha 's Eef nge was only 
one phase of the labors of the intrepid ''Operarins In- 
conf usibilis. ' ' All the while his battle against evil was 
raging, Regis was engaged in other work, the magnitude 
and intensity of which, to speak with moderation, were 
marvelous. 

AYhen not visiting the sick, to whom he brought not 
only spiritual but bodily refreshment, oftentimes even 
restoring health miraculously, Regis was to be seen en- 
tering the home of some poor wretch, carrying a basket 
of food or a bag of grain. And when he had not money 
enough to purchase his supplies for the poor, and could 
not beg from his wealthy friends, he did not hesitate to 
ask of God a miracle. 

The year 1637 found the city of Puy without a suf- 
ficient supply of wheat. There were of course, no mod- 
ern means of transportation such as help to keep the 
wolf away from our door now-a-days. Besides, there 
had been a bad crop that year and what grain there was 
to be had, commanded a fancy price, within the means 
only of the rich. Father Regis had a small supply of 
grain which he kept at the house of one Marguerite 
Baud. The grain was stored in a bin under lock and 
key, and the arrangement between Marguerite and Regis 
was that no wheat was to be given out except to such 
as had an order from himself, and only for the amount 
stated. 



["] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

In the present crisis the poor soon began to flock to 
their beloved Father asking for grain, and he in his 
generosity gave liberal orders on Marguerite's small 
supply, which obviously could not stand so severe a 
strain. The supply was soon exhausted, but this fact 
did not seem to worry Pere Regis, who kept giving out 
orders. 

When Marguerite had given away the last measureful, 
she naturally expected that no one would be sent for 
more until the bin could be refilled. AYhat was her sur- 
prise, then, when a poor woman presented her ticket ask- 
ing for wheat. 

''Why, it's all gone," said Marguerite. ''I must 
go tell Pere Regis; he will get some more.'' 

Off she went, and, be it remembered, took along the 
key of the empty wheat-bin. 

' ' The bin is em.pty, mon Pere ; yet you send me orders 
still?" 

''Oh no; there is plenty for others, ma fille; there is 
plenty. ' ' 

"But, mon Pere, I left it empty." 

"And you will find it full!" 

Marguerite returned, confident that Regis had made 
some mistake. There was certainly no wheat in the bin 
w^hen she had last opened it. 

A little later when Marguerite accompanied her poor 
client to the door after having filled her basket with 
miraculous wheat, she espied Father Regis coming 
along the street. Straightway she ran to meet him and 
began pouring forth a volume of exclamations. 

[78] 



THE ^^OPERARIUS IXCOXFUSIBILIS'' 

Regis calmly said to her: ''Daughter, the granaries 
of God are never empty!" 

Once more the bin was miraculously filled, and on a 
third occasion just enough was added to make up the 
amount usually given out. 

Not the sick and poor alone were the Saint's debtors. 
The working class also came to him in their hour of need 
and found both a willing and a successful helper. Not 
indeed that the Saint offered them immediate aid — 
that he was unable to do — but the event was such that 
in years to come he was the chosen patron of the French 
lacemakers. 

Beginning in the year 1629 a series of sumptuary 
laws was promulgated regulating the use of lace and 
other finery. Ten years later the laws had become so 
stringent that the manufacture of lace could not be 
made a paying proposition. It was thus due to these 
foolish and somewhat Puritanical laws that numbers 
of the peasantry were deprived of the means of an 
honest livelihood. Nor this alone, but the Saint had 
made use of lacemaking as an emplo^^ment for his peni- 
tents at Saint Agatha's. He himself used to bring their 
products to the merchants. 

The lacemakers were in consternation. What now 
could be done except appeal to the good Father? Ac- 
cordingly a deputation waited on Regis, begging him to 
use his influence with those in power. Just what steps, 
if any directly, the Saint took is not clear from the 
sources at hand. At all events the lacemakers went 



[79] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

away satisfied with tlie following prophecy, borne out, 
we are told, almost to the letter: "This decree will be 
short-lived. Your industry will regain its former foot- 
ing; nor will it become extinct in this section, but on 
the contrary, it will grow and you will have every 
means of earning your bread.'' 

Such, in fact, was the event, and in 1661, Louis XIV 
issued a decree in encouragement of the lacemaking in- 
dustry. Not even a tax of any kind was levied on lace. 

However engrossed in his labors here at Puy, the mind 
and heart of the Saint were afar off in distant lands. 
It will be remembered that while still a novice at 
Toulouse, and while praying in the Basilica of Saint 
Saturninus, Regis had been inspired to prepare himeslf 
for the foreign missions. Tie had not forgotten his de- 
sire, nor had the lapse of years cooled his ardor. So it 
was that when reports came back to France of the labors 
and hardships of the Jesuits in Canada, Regis began to 
dream of evangelizing the savages of North America. 
He saw himself in the snow-clad forests with his breth- 
ren, toiling on toward some mission-station that seemed 
infinitely distant. He heard the war-whoop of the Iro- 
quois as they sprang out of their ambush to lead him 
away to torture and to death for Christ. He felt that he 
could wait but little longer for this dream to come true. 

The first of the Saint's letters asking to be sent out 
on the Canadian Missions is dated December 15, 1634. 



[80] 



THE ^^OPERARIUS IKCOXFUSIBILIS ^ ' 

^ ' Very Reverend Father : 

''So great is my desire to be sent on the Missions of 
Canada that should I neglect to tell Your Paternity of 
it, I should feel guilty of neglecting the call of God 
Himself. I wish, then, to make you a voluntary mani- 
festation of my conscience. It is my most earnest hope 
that you will listen with favor to what I have to say, or 
rather, I have little room to doubt but what through 
your kindness I shall meet with full success. 

''AYould to God my virtue were as solid as the robust 
constitution with which, as Your Paternity is aware, 
Heaven has blessed me. However, as the saying goes: 
'Virtue grows stronger in weakness.' Thus I am not 
without hope that my virtue will prove no exception, 
but with God's help will strengthen itself in its weak- 
nesses, — weaknesses which in the midst of this per- 
verse people cannot but be great in number. 
Very Eeverend Father, 
Your most respectful son and servant in Xt., 

John Fraxcis Regis. 

Le Puy." 

In reply to the above direct, straightforward and 
honest appeal, the Father General wrote as follows, 
January 29, 1635 : 

"I am much pleased with your generous zeal for the 
Glory of God and the salvation of souls, and I offer 
heartfelt thanks to Him who has inspired you. I shall 
take account of vour desires when thev shall have 



[81] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

reached full maturity. In the meantime you must nour- 
ish them with prayer and reinforce them with the prac- 
tice of virtue. Prepare ^^ourself also for conflict with 
difficulties, not so much those difficulties one might 
vaguely apprehend in the distant future, but such as 
one must confront in daily life. 

' * I am of the opinion that your desires for the missions 
are God-given, and you are in duty bound to lay them 
up in 3^our heart, keeping guard over them with the 
greater fidelity, since you cannot doubt but what the^^ 
have been purchased with the Blood of Christ. Your 
own zeal in giving yourself up to this w^ork will be 
greater, I trust, than anything I can say to spur you 
on. ... 

Rome. ' ' 

The Saint took eleven months in which to make trial 
of the Father General's injunctions to w^ait, watch and 
pray. By the end of that time he found his desire for 
the Mission of Canada so much increased that he wrote 
again to the Father General, November 26, 1636, as fol- 
lows : 

"In answer to my letter on the subject of the Mis- 
sions of Canada, I have Your Paternity's very kind 
reply, in which you promised to take account of my de- 
sires when they should have sufficiently matured. A whole 
year has now elapsed since the time it pleased God, as I 
heartily believe, to give me the desire of the missions. 
And throughout all this time it has grown remarkably, 



[82] 



THE ^'OPERAEIUS IXCOXFUSIBILIS^' 

nourished as it was and warmed on more than one oc- 
casion by the fire of the Holy Ghost. The fruit is now 
ripe, so that I beg most earnestly of Your Paternity to 
look favorably upon my request. Xot a few have ad- 
vised me to give up my idea of the missions. It is, they 
say, full of dangers and difficulties. No doubt they 
think me neither worthy of nor fitted for the work, and 
I confess that they are right. Still I have not lost hope 
that my aspirations will see fulfilment, since Your Pater- 
nity has bade me to look forward to that end. I beg 
you by that fire of zeal I know you have for the Glory 
of God, to bid me take up this work for which you have 
given me reason to hope. In any case, I shall look upon, 
as best, whatever and all that you shall bid me do, and 
relying on the goodness of God, shall obey with all my 
heart. 

Very Keverend Father, 
Your most humble servant in Christ, 
and unworthy son 

JoHX Fraxcis Regis. 
Aubenas. ' ' 

Once more to quote from the old English translation 
of Father Daubenton's life of the Saint: 

"In the meantime, he still followed his first Vocation, 
with greater Ardour than ever; and his Thoughts were 
so taken up. Day and Night, with the Conversion of the 
Canadois. Sometimes he would in Confidence say to 
his Companion : How happy were it for me, to die for 

[S3] 



SAIXT JOHX iKAXCIS REGIS 

Jesus Christ, procuring the Salvation of the Hurons 
and Iroquois. Burning with these holy Desires, he made 
it his first Business, coming into the College, to enquire 
of F. Sebastian Yineau, the Rector, whether he had 
any Letters for him. The Rector gave him one, which 
was the General's Answer to his Letter from Aiibenas. 
This Letter, dated January 15, 1636, '^ imported in Sub- 
stance : that so many French Jesuits solicited the Mis- 
sion of Canada, that the favor could not be granted to 
all: the Revenues of the Mission, now in its Infancy, 
not bearing a greater Number of Missionaries. He 
added that as those Funds improved in Time, the Num- 
ber of EA^angelical Labourers might be increased; and 
then a particular Regard might be had to the Fervour 
of his Zeal; that in the meanwhile he must continue to 
lay up a Fund of Apostolical Virtues, and chiefly of the 
Love of the Cross, as a necessary Provision to work with 



"This date is hardly correct, — at least with regard to the 
year. How the discrepancy escaped such a painstaking writer as 
Father de Curley, is not easily understood. De Curley gives as 
the date of Regis' second letter to the Father General, November 
20, 1636. This letter is immediately followed in his book, page 77, 
by the General's second reply, dated according to the same writer, 
January 10, 1636. No doubt he took his dates from Daubenton, 
whose edition of 1823, gives January 13, 1636. 

In explanation of the original error, two hypotheses are 
possible: (1) the month is wrong: it should be December instead 
of January; or (2) the year is vaong: it should be 1637. We 
Ijrefer the latter, .since owing to the usual press of business in 
the Father General's office, and owing also to the tardy means 
of transportation in those days, it would take about two months 
for a letter to reach Regis from Rome. 



[84] 



THE ^^OPERAEIUS IXCOXFUSIBILIS'' 

Advantage in the Missions, where so much was to be 
suffered. 

"The General's Answer mortified Regis: He thought 
that to deny him that Mission, was to wrest out of his 
Hands the Crown of Martyrdom. He attributed this 
Denial to his Sins; but however sensible his Affliction 
was, he did not utter a single word of Complaint, sub- 
mitting to the Divine AYill, which he respected in the 
Order of his Superior. He eased his Grief, with Hopes, 
that God would open to him another Career, where he 
might be employed to greater Advantage, and finish a 
virtuous Course. He was not deceived. Heaven in- 
spired to him the Design of beginning Missions at Puy 
the Capitol of the Yelay, and continuing them in the 
Mountains that encompass that Country. And there- 
fore he found abundantly w^hatever he could have 
found in Canada: great Occasions of Patience, and 
numberless Souls to be won over to God. The remain- 
ing Part of his Life was one continuous Mission, one 
continued Series of Sufferino:s.'' 



III. Missions 

True apostleship has not been called utter hardship 
simply with a view toward making a clever or striking 
remark. There is a great, and to the apostle himself, 
an only too evident truth in the saying. If the history 
of men who have spent their lives in spreading the 
Christian Kelieion were not at hand, and we had to fall 



[So] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

back for a proof of the fact upon the life of Saint John 
Francis Regis, we should not be disappointed, for the 
story of the Saint's missionary career is indeed^ in the 
words of the quaint translator quoted above, '"one con- 
tinued Series of Sufferings.'' 

By way of introduction to Saint John Francis Regis' 
more extensive missions in the country districts, an ac- 
count must be given of his wonderful work at Soni- 
mieres, a work that has lasted to our own day. 

The people of Sommieres had always been noted for 
their frivolity and gayety of life, and this on the testi- 
mony of their own contemporaries. Everyone referred 
to them as ''Les passereaux de Sommieres," or, ^'The 
Sparrows of Sommieres." This trait of the Sommieres 
character was its downfall, for when in 1562, Viret, the 
ardent zealot of Calvinism., a man whom Galvin regarded 
as a second self, came to Sommieres, he found that only 
two day's preaching were required to win over the entire 
population to his sect. There were, however, a few ex- 
ceptions. Viret had scattered Calvinist corn for the 
' ' Sparrows of Sommieres, ' ' and all had eaten of it except 
one Martial Guillot and his two sons, who alone remained 
true to the ancient Faith, taking for their motto: ^'Eisi 
omiieSy ego non/^ These loyal men did their utmost to 
oppose Viret, and after his departure tried courageously 
to stamp out the effects of his preaching. But in vain. 
Within twelve years after Viret had left Sommieres, the 
only Catholics to be found there were Martial Guillot 
and his sons. The Sparrows had found more palatable 



[86] 



THE ''OPERARIUS IXCOXFUSIBILIS' ' 

j)eckiiigs and would no longer eat of the substantial food 
of Catholicism. Xot only did the greater part of the 
populace go over in a body to Calvinism, but those who 
refused to adopt the new religion, were, it is said, put 
to death. AYe are not told how the Guillots escaped the 
common lot. 

There is no need of further comment in order to 
describe the state of Sommieres when Regis arrived there 
about the year 1633. The Catholics counted fcAv indeed 
of the 700 families making up the population, though 
there were at the time three churches and one or two 
private chapels in the town. 

If love of novelty had been the downfall of the people 
of Sommieres, it was now to be their salvation, for the 
announcement of a new preacher in town, the very 
preacher too, whose fame was beginning to spread about, 
was all that was needed to draw a large audience for the 
first sermon Kegis preached in the city. His plan of 
campaign was to be very simple, direct and not above the 
level of his somewhat obtuse audience. He found his 
Avay to their hearts by the very door they themselves 
opened to him. Beginning by reminding his hearers of 
the gay and pleasant life they were leading, the preacher 
startled his audience by suddenly asking them if they 
had ever thought that there must come an end! Had 
they ever thought of death? But death would surely 
come I And was there anything after that ? Assuredly : 
judgment and heaven, — or, was it hell ? And what 
was hell? Nothins: if not the miserable and eternal 



[87] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

abode of such as too long deferred the time of repent- 
ance. The conclusion was obvious : a sudden halt must 
be called in this wild i^ush for pleasure, lest they find in 
the end, but all too late, that it had been the blazing 
fire of hell that attracted their moth-like vision. 

The immediate result was conversion, not only of born 
heretics, but of f alien-away Catholics too ; for, any who 
took the trouble to acknowledge themselves as such, were 
far from examples of what their holy religion demanded 
of them. Furthermore, that the conversion was perma- 
nent IS evident from the fact that the good seed took 
root and sprang up to bear abundant fruit in the shape 
of further conversions and ardent devotion even to 
w^orks of supererogation. For when the Catholic com- 
munity had grown large enough. Regis established at 
Sor.miieres the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament. 
So generously did the people take hold of this new devo- 
tion that nothing short of a corps of perpetual adorers 
would satisfy them. As late as 1690 this phase of the 
devotion was considered as being of very early date, — 
a fact which shows that the ''Sparrows of Sommieres" 
had turned veritable eagles. Perseverance is the surest 
test of a true conversion. 

Regis himself avowed in a letter to the Father Gen- 
eral that he was astonished at the marvels God's grace 
had worked among the people of Sommieres. He as- 
sured the General too of the lasting character of the 
change; it was simply complete. ''God is surely great, 
and I am at a loss to explain how it has all come about. ' ' 

[88] 



THE '^OPERARIUS INCONFUSIBILIS ' ' 

This last, of course, is plainly the Saint's humility 
speaking; and the General must have realized on read- 
ing Regis' letter that the cause of his success, under 
God's grace, was this same humility. Indeed, the Gen- 
eral would have been convinced that such was the case 
could he have witnessed two events which took place 
near Sommieres, and of which Regis, of course, says 
nothing in his letter. 

The events in question are complete refutation of an 
altogether inexplicable idea, namely, that in order to 
become a saint, one must be an anaemic, spineless sort 
of creature, too phlegmatic to resist injustice. With so 
many examples in the lives of the Saints of just the 
opposite, and here another in the life of Saint John 
Francis Regis, it is strange, to speak mildly, that such 
a view should still persist, and even among Catholics. 

The times with which we are dealing were trouble- 
some both in religious and civil spheres ; so that it was 
deemed necessaiy^ by the authorities, such as they were, 
to use the military as a sort of police. But the remedy 
Avas Avorse than the evil, since more than half the time 
the soldiers were not paid, and were, after all, only a 
lawless lot of ruffians, even the Catholic element among 
them. It was their custom to go about from village to 
village plundering the poor peasants and extorting large 
sums from the well-to-do as insurance against raid. 

On one occasion the people of Combas got wind of the 
fact that a band of soldiery was about to make a raid 
on their village. Immediately all valuables were stowed 

[89] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

away in hiding-places and the entire village assembled 
in the church, determined to submit to a siege rather 
than open to the ruffians. 

When the soldiers entered the village they found 
every house deserted, and on gathering in front of the 
church, beheld there Pere Regis standing motionless 
before the barred doors, crucifix in hand. Their aston- 
ishment was complete. What could the man intend 
to do? 

Regis enlightened them : '"I conjure you, ' ' he began, 
''by the Blood of Jesus Christ, to respect this holy place 
and not to rob these poor people of the little they have 
for the support of their needy families. Or, if you 
must despoil them, I shall defend the Altar of Grod with 
the last drop of my blood, and count it gain to have shed 
it in so holy a cause. ' ' 

For a moment there was a dramatic silence ; then one 
of the soldiers, bolder than his fellows, stepped forward. 
Immediately the rest were at his heels. Regis waited 
and when the soldier tried to force his way past him to 
the church door, the Saint grasped him firmly by the 
arm and cried out: ''Stand back sacrilegious man! 
Stand back, impious f elloAv ! I shall never permit you 
to violate the House of God in my presence. You wdll 
enter this sacred edifice only by stepping over the dead 
body of a priest of the living God. Strike me, if you 
will, but understand that God will avenge Himself well 
of the outrage perpetrated against His Altar, and that 
vengeance will follow close upon the crime ! ' ' 



[90] 



THE ^^OPERARIUS INCONFUSIBILIS'' 

But this is melodramatic, modern critics will object. 
Be it so ; but earnest and heartily meant, every word of 
it. It is terrible to think what might have followed had 
not the soldiers turned away and given up their attempt. 

These soldiers were Catholics (save the mark!) and 
were thus more easily impressed than the set Regis met 
in another village. This other band, who were Hugue- 
nots, had forced themselves upon the hospitality of a 
well-to-do Catholic. AVhen the spirit finally moved them 
to take their departure, it occurred to someone that a 
souvenir of their visit would be most appropriate. Ac- 
cordingly they suggested to their ''host" that if he 
would prefer handing over a certain fabulous sum of 
money, instead of granting them leave to w^alk off with 
the best of his movable goods, — why, they were not so 
particular: one way would suit them quite as wxll as 
the other. 

While the frantic proprietor of the place was arguing 
with his ' ' guests ' ' that he really did not care for either 
plan, and the ''guests" were insisting that both were 
good ; that he must choose either one or the other, — 
while all this parley was going on, one of the household 
ran to tell Pere Regis of the matter, and ask him to pray 
God to make the soldiers depart in peace. 

"I will come at once," said Regis, when he had 
learned the state of affairs. 

"No; no, mon Pere!" cried the messenger, "That 
would only make things worse. Do not come, but pray 
God to send these men away. They are Huguenots ; you 



[91] 



SAIXT JOHX FRANCIS REGIS 

are a Jesuit! They hate the sight of your habit. They 
will kill you!'' 

That was enough ! 

"Then surely I will come!" cried the Saint. ''What 
a happiness to defend a Catholic against a heretic, 
(Kegis' blood was ancestral!) and even to give my life 
for him Avliom Jesus died to save. Ah, but I fear I am 
not worthy of becoming a martyr of charity ! ' ' 

The result w^as as the Saint 's informer had anticipated. 
Implore or threaten as he might, the holy man could 
make no impression. He might have done better talking 
to stocks and stones. Finally, seeing that he was only 
wasting his breath. Regis went away. No sooner was 
his back turned than he was followed with shouts of 
derision, and even vegetables and lumps of dirt w^ere 
hurled after him by the soldiers. But these worthies 
had more important business to engage their attention, 
and they set about it without delay. 

Although the damage to the peasant's property had 
been done. Regis, on hearing that an officer lived nearby, 
sought him out and found that the whole a:^air had been 
reported to him, even including the insults offered to 
the Saint himself. The officer treated Regis with great 
kindness and promised that full reparation would be 
made to the peasant. And when the Saint made no 
allusion to the treatment he himself had received, the 
officer expressed surprise. Hear the answer of a Saint : 

^'Ah, perhaps you do not understand that the minis- 
ters of the Gospel should be ready to take insults as 

[92] 



THE ^^OPERARIUS INCOXFUSIBILIS ' ' 

compliments, bear them with patience and forgive them 
with charity. I should never complain of a chance to 
put the counsels of my religion in practice. I will count 
it reparation enough for myself if you will restrain your 
men and protect our people against them. ' ' 

Such was the work accomplished in and about Som- 
mieres, a work Avhich has had a lasting character. As 
we have seen, the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacra- 
ment established by Regis at Sommieres, flourished long 
after his death, and with perpetual adoration as part of 
the programme. More, the people clung tenaciously to 
their reborn Faith, for when in 1702, Cavalier came 
down from the Cevennes upon Sommieres with an arm}^ 
of Protestants, though he was able to murder and pillage, 
still he could not separate the onetime ^'Sparrows of 
Sommieres" from their dear religion. Regis' efforts had 
not been in vain, and even last till our own day, for in 
1893 Sommieres counted nearly 2400 Catholics against 
1500 Protestants. 

If Saint John Francis Regis found what was even 
worse than raw material upon which to work at Som- 
mieres, then there are left us hardly adequate words to 
describe the condition of affairs when in 1633, he was 
appointed along with Father Jacques Beyssen, to pre- 
cede the Bishop of Viviers in the pastoral visitation of 
his diocese. The territory over which Regis was to work 
was divided into 334 parishes, containing 212,000 souls. 
But the difficulty of the task before him was to be 
measured not so much by the numbers, as by the deplor- 
able condition of the people with whom he had to deal. 

[93] 



SAIXT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

A pastoral visitation of the diocese had been made in 
1584 by Nicholas de Vesc, Vicar General of Bishop Jean 
THostel, and in almost every parish the state of affairs 
was enough to discourage even the heart of an apostle. 
The churches, so far from being frequented by the 
people, were often found without a bell to call them to 
worship, a font at which to baptize their children, or 
even an altar on which a priest could in conscience cele- 
brate the Holy Sacrifice. In some places the churches 
w^ere falling to pieces, and in others nothing remained 
but the foundation stones. 

This was the state of affairs fifty years before the 
good Bishop Louis-FranQois de la Baume-Suse decided 
to make his pastoral visitation. What must have been 
the deplorable condition of the people at this later date ? 
"Evils had gathered strength by long delay" and were 
of such intensity as to force themselves on a less willing 
attention than that of the Bishop. 

Desiring to come directly into contact with his people 
and of having them well prepared for his visitation, the 
Bishop asked for and received as his forerunner, Pere 
Jean-Francois Regis. 

Fay-le-Froid was the first place to engage the Saint 's 
attention. This town was a stronghold of Protestantism. 
Formerly, we are told, it had been a center from which 
Protestant excursions of all kinds, religious and martial, 
emanated, much to the detriment of Catholic faith and 
morals. In 1573 Senecterre, the Bishop of Puy, had 
with five hundred men, laid siege to Fay and finally 

[94] 



THE '^OPERARIUS IXCOXFUSIBILIS^' 

taken it by assault. Holy Mass was celebrated in the 
public square even before the roar of the cannon had 
ceased, and Fay was once more, rightly or wrongly, (we 
cannot say,) in Catholic hands. 

But such methods of reestablishing the Faith had but 
little effect toward winning the good will of the heretics. 
Hence it was that Regis found his task at Fay no easy 
one. His efforts were as great and zealous as ever, but 
it was reserved for another time, (later he gave a winter 
mission at Fay,) to reap the abundant fruit. Still, his 
work was not without results, for he made a new friend 
who Avas to aid him materially on his missions. This 
friend was no less a personage than the Comte de la 
Motte-Brion. Regis also converted from Calvinism an 
old lady whom the flattery of her coreligionists had 
Turned into an apostle and protectress of their faith. At 
first the conversion of this lady held forth but little hope 
of accomplishment, but when Regis had talked to her 
but a short time, she gave in, saying that she felt she had 
no power of will to refuse. 

Ever on the watch for such cases. Regis also converted 
to a good life a woman of ill repute who had been a 
public scandal. In fact, so greatly was the Saint feared 
and detested by one public sinner, that the fellow organ- 
ized a campaign of calumny against him and nearly 
succeeded in accomplishing his bitter designs. The 
preaching and good life of the Saint had been such a 
rebuke to this man, that he determined to get Regis out 
of the way as soon as possible. He chose means well 



[95] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

suited to his end, for he went to the Bishop and repre- 
sented that Regis' zeal was misguided, that he was really 
sowing discord in families hitherto peaceful, that his 
invectives against vice were directed toward certain 
persons in particular. Other malcontents were enlisted 
in the campaign, and came to the Bishop with the same 
story, but as if independently and without design. A 
letter in the same strain was sent to the General in Rome. . 

The outcome Avas that Regis was summoned by the 
Bishop and the complaints against him made known. 
His only answer was that if he had abused the authority 
given him, at least that had not been his intention ; that 
Grod was his witness that he had kept His glory and the 
salvation of souls alone at heart in all he had done. 

The Bishop was struck with the good man's humilitv, 
and his conviction that the reports must be false was 
confirmed when the Comte de la Motte and Pere Siniane, 
the Yicar, came and justified Regis completely. 

Thus the Saint was free to carry on his good work 
once more, and this he did until the beginning of 1635, 
when the Bishop was forced to discontinue his visitation, 
in order to attend the Provincial Assembly of Vivarais, 
preparatory to the General Assembly of the Clergy of 
France. 

While on this mission in the Yivarais occurred one of 
Saint John Francis Regis' miraculous escapes. He was 
traveling in the direction of the Chateau of Pradel, a 
house at the time in the hands of the Protestants. The 
Saint was suddenlv made aware of the fact that he was 



[96] 



THE '-OPERARIUS IXCOXFUSIBILIS^^ 

being pursued by Huguenot soldiers. Xot knowing 
wliitlier to go to escape them, the good man entered as if 
hy inspiration, tlie court^'ard of the chateau. This seemed, 
as Father de Curley remarks, to be taking refuge in the 
jaws of a lion. But not so : there in the court stood a 
small pile of hay. In the depths of the stack Eegis 
concealed himself just shortly before the soldiers entered 
the yard. Naturally enough they at once suspected that 
the man they Avere seeking was within the hay-stack. 
Approaching, they passed their lances through the pile 
in all directions, after the manner of the Indian fakir 
Avith his sword and basket, but hearing no cry of pain, 
they went on their way, feeling, we may surmise, that in 
truth they had been pursuing a wizard. 

Tradition has left it that on this mission of the Yiva- 
rais Eegis evangelized the following villages and towns : 
Pradel, Mazignon, Chalencon, the Chateau de Cherville, 
Giron, Yillars, St. Laurent de Coiron, Poucharesse, 
Dompuac, Jaussac, and the Chateau de Pradel. In 
nearly every one of these places in later years was to be 
found some memorial of the Saint's ^dsit, — a chapel ded- 
icated to his name or a cross: ""la croix de S. Eems. '' 



[97] 



SAIXT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 



Winter Missions 

Before coming at length to tell of Saint John Francis 
Regis' last effort as a missionary, that crowning effort 
Avhich culminated in his death at La Louvesc, there re- 
mains to be given some account of that work so dear to 
his heart, the work of the Winter Missions. 

The field of these arduous labors was the country 
district of the dioceses of Puy, Viviers, Valence and 
Vienne, and the sentiment which quickened him to action 
in spite of the difficulties of bitter cold winter, was the 
following, attributed to the Saint himself: ''If God 
should give me the choice of going to Heaven or of 
staying here on earth to spread the Gospel, I should 
prefer to stay here and work for the conversion of sin- 
ners!'' 

But why choose the winter for work that was hard 
enough in clement weather ? It was a question of some- 
one making a sacrifice, so that logically (for Regis) he 
must be the one to make it. In the spring the tilling 
must be done, and in the summer and autumn there was 
the harvest to occupy nearly all the time of the peasants. 
Consequently, in order to insure good attendance and to 
inconvenience the people as little as could be. Regis fixed 
upon the winter as the most convenient time for his 
country missions, even though that meant for him pain 
and suffering, and in the event, his death. 

AVhile giving these missions the Saint followed a regu- 
lar order as much as possible. The morning was spent 

[98] 




o 



THE ^^OPERARIUS IXCOXFUSIBILIS ' ' 

in preaching and hearing confessions. Abont noon, and 
by virtue of a special privilege he possessed, even after 
noon, he would celebrate the Holy Sacrifice. The after- 
noon was divided between sermons and the confessional. 
At night he would discipline himself, oftentimes, we are 
told, to blood, and then lie do^vn for a few hours' rest 
on a couch or upon the bare floor. He ate but little ; yet 
we are told that he was a man of perfect health : in spite 
of his manner of life, surely, rather than because of it. 
He traveled from place to place on foot, and once when 
forced by a good man to accept a horse and groom, he 
consented to ride, but only as long as he was within sight 
of his benefactor. Once out of sight he made the groom 
mount the horse whilst he himself trudged alongside in 
the snow. A cloak thrown over his soutane was his only 
protection against the elements ; under his soutane there 
rasped against his skin a prickly hair-shirt and a barbed 
chain. 

Regis was like the first missionaries sent out by Our 
Lord Himself : without scrip or purse. On one occasion 
Avhile traveling through a Huguenot village with his 
companion, night overtook them and the pangs of hun- 
ger soon began to make further travel unpleasant. The 
following incident took place at Le Chambon de Tence, 
on one of the Saint's last missions. There was an inn 
in the village, but, thought the companion, there might 
might as well be no inn at all, for they themselves were 
penniless and could expect no charity from the Hugue- 
nots. 

''AYe'll go to the inn," said the Saint, ^'and have 
supper. ' ' 

[99] 



SAIXT JOHN FRAXC18 REGIS 

''But the money?'' queried Benzac, his companion. 

*'I shall pray, and Our Lord will settle our bill/' was 
the unhesitating reply. 

"'To be sure," said Benzae, not without some bitter- 
ness, '* Huguenots Avill take prayers for pay!'' 

Nevertheless, to the inn they went and Regis ordered 
supper for Benzae. AYhilst Benzae, with some misgiv- 
ings was bestowing himself heartily, but warily to his 
task, the Saint sought out a table of young men who 
were playing cards and who paid no attention to his 
intrusion. Regis sat down as if to watch the game. 
Xever before had such a spectator joined their group, 
so the young men determined to have a little sport with 
their visitor. A fcAv significant looks were exchanged 
and presently remarks were passed, — remarks seemingly 
innocent but in reality bearing a double meaning. Each 
brilliant sally was greeted with a roar of laughter. (By 
this time Benzae could scarcely have been enjoying his 
meal. ) 

Now appears that compelling force which a man of 
character can exercise upon his fellows. AVho could 
have been more ill-disposed toward Regis than these 
ruffians? Yet the power of the man and the grace of 
God that surely was assisting him, bore so weightily upon 
this uncouth gathering that when the Saint began to 
talk of civility and charity and the kindness that should 
characterize our every word spoken about others, espec- 
ially strangers, these young men gave in at once, actually 
begged pardon, and as if to make reparation, bade the 



[100] 



THE ^^OPERARIUS IXCOXFUSIBILIS' ' 

innkeeper treat the stranger well, not to take his money,, 
that they would settle for his bill ! 

Benzac left the inn that night a man of stronger faith. 

There is no need to go into detail with regard to the 
work Regis accomplished in each of the places he visited 
during his Winter Missions. The more important sta- 
tions along his route were as follows : Le Cheylard, St. 
Martin, Lechamp, Privas, St. Agreve, St. Andre, Fay-le 
Froid (visited before,) Marlhes, FeugeroUes, St. Regis- 
du-Coin, St. Sauveur, Clavas, Bourg-Argental, St. Ju- 
lien, St. Apollinard, St. Pierre, St. Bennet and Vorey. 

It was whilst giving a mission at Marcoux and Mont- 
Regard that Regis effected the conversion from Protest- 
antism of a very influential young widow, by name, 
Louise de Romezin. Louise was born at Le Chambon 
de Tence in 1616, — the year in which Regis entered the 
Society of Jesus. Her father and mother and grand- 
parents had been Calvinists of the strictest type. The 
family was one of quality and had great influence. From 
her earliest years Louise had been instructed by Cal- 
vinist Ministers, the burden of whose lessons was that 
the Catholic Church was false and that Catholic priests 
were imposters and seducers, bad men. Louise grew up 
to be a champion of the Calvinist religion. She filled her 
ready memory with quotations from Scripture calcu- 
lated to refute anything a Catholic might say in defense 
of his Faith. She was withal a woman of spotless morals 
and tender charity. 

At the age of twenty-two Louise became the bride of 
Gilles de la Franchere, a Protestant gentleman belonging 

[101] 



SAIXT JOHN FRANCIS EEGIS 

to a family attached to the Court of Henry IV. In 1639 
Gilles de la Franchere died, leaving Louise to care for 
their only son. It was shortly after the death of De la 
Franchere that Kegis came to Mont-Regard to give a 
mission. Mont-Regard was not far from the Chateau de 
Marcoux, Louise's home at the time. 

Regis had travelled all day and arrived at Mont- 
Regard at night. He went straight to the church, but 
finding it locked, sat down on the snowy steps and 
passed the night in prayer. The mission opened the 
next day and it was not long before Louise de Romezin 
even in her retirement at Marcoux, heard rumors and 
stories of ''le saint Pere.'' The beginning of her con- 
version was curiosity. She resolved to hear one of Regis' 
sermons. She mingled with the common-folk, and so 
went unnoticed. But ever after that first sermon she 
went openly, excusing herself to her coreligionists on the 
plea that she only wished to hear this extraordinary man, 
but that of course she would never be influenced by him 
or by any other to change her religion. No doubt this 
statement represents the true state of her mind at the 
time. 

The Saint was informed of the fact that he had so 
distinguished a listener in his congregation and expressed 
a desire to meet and speak with Louise de Romezin. This 
was exactly what that lady herself desired. Consequently 
an interview was arranged, during which not a word was 
spoken about points of controversy between Calvinists 
and Catholics. Five other interviews followed: in the 



[102] 



THE ^^OPERARIUS INCOXFUSIBILIS ' ' 

second Eegis explained the mysteries of the Catholic 
Faith. In the third he put the true interpretation on 
the texts of Scripture Louise adduced against the 
Church. In the fourth and fifth interviews Eegis 
showed his pupil that the Calvinists imputed to the 
Church doctrines she had never taught. This fact so 
impressed Louise that we are told she exclaimed : ' ' Can 
it be possible that a man so enlightened, yet so humble; 
so zealous for God 's glory, yet so dead to himself, can be 
in error, or that he should wish to lead others astray ? ' ' 

There followed one more interview in which Louise 
cle Romezin surrendered. Her greatest difficulty had 
been to believe in the Real Presence. At one word from 
the Saint, she tells us in her deposition, all the errors of 
Calvin were obliterated and she believed in the truth of 
Christ. What that word was she does not say. It must 
have been, we agree with Father de Curley, some simple 
expression, humanly speaking, in utter disproportion to 
the effect it bore. Regis spoke the word, but it was God 
who gave the light and the grace to believe. 

Louise de Romezin kept her conversion secret for a 
time, but at Regis' bidding made it public, much to the 
chagrin of the Protestants, and, unhappily, to the grief 
of her parents, but to the joy of the Catholics. 

From ilont-Regard Regis went to Le Chambon de 
Tence, and thence to Montfaucon, where in the midst of 
his mission the bubonic plague broke out. Obtaining the 
permission of his Superior and of Louis de Lagrevol, he 
at once set to work relieving the plague-stricken, without 

[103] 



SAIXT JOHX FRANCIS REGIS 

thought or care for himself. After some time, however, 
Louis de Lagrevol insisted that Regis endanger himself 
no longer. He must leave Montfaucon to its misery. In 
vain did the Saint protest, and so left the city only to 
care for the plague-stricken in another place. But 
wonderful to relate, as soon as the Saint took his de- 
parture, so did the bubonic plague. Not another fatality 
was recorded, and all the stricken recovered. Before 
Regis had let Moantfaucon out of his sight, he had 
turned on the brow of the hill, and looking back had 
raised his hand in priestly blessing. 

AYhen news Avas brought to the Saint of Montfaucon ^s 
liberation he hastened back only to find the entire popu- 
lation at his feet proclaiming him their deliverer. His 
Avish was to continue his interrupted mission, but he was 
doomed to disappointment, for word came from his 
Rector, Pere Arnoux, that he was to return to Puy to 
fill the place of one of the Professors of the college. 
AYithout a murmur he obeyed. This incident was, how- 
ever, the occasion of his writing to the General for per- 
mission to spend five or six months of the year on the 
country missions. The permission was readily granted, 
and encouraged by this success, he ventured a step far- 
ther toward the accomplishment of a scheme very dear 
to his heart. He had conceived the idea of a band of 
missioners whose sole occupation would be to traverse the 
countryside giving missions like those he had been con- 
ducting for the past five years. Regis communicated this 
plan to the General and received in reply a hearty com- 
mendation. 

[101] 



THE ^^OPERARIUS INCONFUSIBILIS ^ ' 

This scheme, however, was never to be put into opera- 
tion by its originator. It was now the year 1640, the 
one hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the 
Society of Jesus. Regis took part in the earthly cele- 
bration of this event, but before long he was to bid fare- 
well to the Society of Jesus militant, in order to join his 
brothers triumphant in Heaven. 



[105] 



John Francis Regis: ''In Manus Tuas, Domixe'' 



The portrait of Saint John Francis Regis at the be- 
ginning of this volume is taken fi^om the ''Galerie 
Photographiqne de la Compagnie de Jesus," of Father 
Alfred Hamy, S. J., and is said to be a true likeness of 
the Saint. The following is the description of his person 
given in Father de Cur ley's biography: ''When Regis 
went to La Louvesc for the last time he was forty-four 
years of age, and in the prime of life. He was tall ; his 
face oblong ; his forehead broad and open ; his hair light 
brown ; his eyes very wide and very blue ; his nose large 
and aquiline ; his mouth wide. The combination of 
brown hair and blue eyes is a type, we have ascertained^ 
quite common at Fontcouverte. ' ' 

This is the only description we have of the great man 
who Avas now about to terminate his laborious career. 
Like his namesake, Francis Xavier, he had spent but 
ten years in the active ministry, but the good he effected 
is not to be measured in terms of time. 

That Regis had a premonition from Heaven of his 
approaching end, is quite certain. The following inci- 
dent would scarcely prove this, were it alone the only 
testimony at hand, but there are other proofs to be seen 
later. A voung girl who had done several works of zeal 



[106] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

for the Saint, one day demurred when asked to do a 
similar favor. The Saint told her that of course she 
must have her own way, but that 'the time would come 
Avhen she would need him and would seek him afar off. ' 
As it turned out, this 3^oung woman was, after the 
Saint's death, beaten by some young men and severely 
injured. Her health failed and nothing availed to re- 
store it save a pilgrimage to La Louvesc. 

When Regis saw that his time on earth was short, he 
determined to put all his strength into one last mission- 
ary effort. It was the runner's last spurt as the goal 
hove in sight, ilontfaucon was his center and having 
given a mission there, he went to Racoules and Veyrines. 
"We are told that during the months of September, Octo- 
ber, November and a part of December, 1640, the Saint 
heard 9000 confessions. This is an enormous number 
considering the fact that his penitents v\'ere country- 
folk who could confess but seldom and who therefore 
might spend some time in making their confessions. 
Furthermore, it is to be remembered that Regis preached 
three and four times a day while on the missions, besides 
devoting some two hours or more to his own spiritual 
duties. 

Regis now finally announced the Mission of La 
Louvesc, the only place dependent on the College of 
Puy w^hich he had not as yet visited. 

It is thought that shortly after having announced the 
Mission of La Louvesc, the Saint was made aware of 
the design of Heaven that he was to die there during 

[107] 



'^X MAXUS TUAS, DOMIXE'' 

the course of the mission. As he wished to prepare him- 
self well for the coming event, he interrupted his mis^ 
sions and returned to Puy. He did not, however, go at 
once to the college, but stopped at the Villa, the Chateau 
d'Ours, where he knew he would find some of his con- 
freres. 

There was at that time attached to the College of 
Puy, a certain Pere Trail, a man of rare virtue and a 
friend of the Saint. It was probably Pere Trail whom 
Kegis sought as his last confessor. 

There are on record four bits of convei^sation Regis 
held with his brothers in religion, all of which taken 
together show that he was aware of his approaching 
death. The first took place at the Chateau d'Ours 
Avhere several Fathers and Scholastics were gathered for 
a holiday. Regis was invited by the Fathers to spend 
the Christmas holidays with them at the chateau. The 
Saint excused himself by saying that it would be impos- 
sible, that he would then be on the missions. 

The second conversation was between Regis and his 
confessor, probably, as we have said, Pere Trail. Regis 
called the Father aside and after exchanging a few 
words with him, opened to him his whole soul. He gave 
him the real reason why he had interrupted the mis- 
sions. He wished, he said, to prepare for a happy 
death. Hence he was going to make a retreat for three 
days and at the end of that time make a confession of 
his whole life past. Would Pere Trail hear that con- 
fession? The Father was astonished at the Saint's 



[108] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

words, but reserving his judgment regarding the proph- 
ecy of death, promised Regis that he would do for him 
everything within his power. 

Thus far the Saint had made known the following: 
Not only was he to be at La Louvesc for Christmas, but 
he was to die there. 

Regis, therefore, together with Pere Trail, set out for 
the city, and desiring not to be seen or have his pres- 
ence known, (this in order to secure seclusion,) he en- 
tered the city after nightfall by a circuitous route to the 
college. He went into retreat on Wednesday, Decem- 
ber 19th, and spent that day and the ensuing two in 
prayer and examination of conscience. At the close of 
the Spiritual Exercises he made his general confession. 
Then followed the third conversation : Pere Trail en- 
quired of the Saint when he expected to return to the 
missions. Regis replied that he intended to start on the 
following day. Pere Trail then endeavored to get Regis 
to stay over till the Feast of the Epiphany, when would 
be held the semi-annual Renovation of Vows for those 
who had not as yet made their Last Vows. 

''The Master does not wish it so,'' w^as the Saint's 
reply. 

'''The Master?''' queried Pere Trail; and then 
thinking that perhaps he referred to the Rector: "I 
know very well that he does." 

"No, Father," insisted Regis, (something he seldom 
did,) "The Master does not wish it. He wishes me to 
go tomorrow." 

[109] 



'^N MANUS TUAS, DOMINE'^ 

''Oh, well, then," said Pere Trail, ''go if you must. 
But it will not be long ; you will return in time for the 
Renovation. ' ' 

"My companion will return," said the Saint, "but 
not I." 

Pere Trail was astonished. He told Regis that it 
would not be right to send his companion home and re- 
main on the mission alone. 

The Saint's only reply was: "My companion will re- 
turn home, but not I." He would offer no further ex- 
planation. Even Pere Arnoux, the Rector, tried to dis- 
suade Regis from going to La Louvesc at this time, but 
the Saint begged permission so insistently that at last 
the Rector gave way. This last was the fourth conversa- 
tion of the Saint that indicated his foreknowledge of his 
death, for if he had not known it, he would, being a 
man of such unparalleled obedience, have abandoned his 
project at once when he learned his Superior's wishes. 
This we have seen him do before. Now it was different : 
he had received his orders from a higher Superior than 
Pere Arnoux. 

Regis accordingly settled all his business affairs in the 
city, paid a few debts he had contracted for his poor 
and set out for his last mission at La Louvesc. His 
first stop was at Racoules, forty-four kilometres from 
Puy. He left Racoules the morning of December 23rd. 
Now began a most trying, journey. Louise de Romezin 
made it later in a carriage and testifies to the difficulty 
of the route even bv that method of travel. Regis and 



[110] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

his lay-brother companion, Brother Bideau, made it on 
foot amidst rain and snow and ice and biting winds. 

Snow had fallen plentifully; the streams that at in- 
tervals crossed the road were frozen. The route was up 
hill and do\vn dale for over forty kilometres. The holy 
man arrived at length at Veyrines. He had lost his 
bearings in the snow and had thus made a detour. He 
did not remain in the village, however, but passing 
through, sought out a ruined barn, where he and his 
companion stopped for the night. 

Walking had kept Regis warm, but now that he was 
no longer moving, his poor clothes availed but little to 
retain the heat of his body. The straw in the barn was 
Avet; yet here he rested — if freezing nearly to death 
can be called resting — and during the night was taken 
with a violent fever and pains in the chest. How his 
companion escaped a similar fate is known to Divine 
Providence alone. 

Early the next day the two travellers Avere again on 
their tedious way, and, says Father de Curley, with a 
wealth of suggestion : ' ' At last they arrived ! ' ' It was 
the day before Christmas. 

Our testimony for the happenings of the next eight 
days is the following: Brother Bideau, the Saint's 
companion; M. le Cure Bayle and his sister; Louise de 
Romezin; the Jesuit Fathers Lascombe, Chabras and 
Audibert ; and M. de Giraud. Pere Arnoux, the Rector 
of Puy, got his information for his letter to the General 
from the above witnesses. 



[Ill] 



''IN MAXUS TUAS, DOMINE'' 

The gigantic missionary labors in which Saint John 
Francis Regis noAv began to take part seem to have been 
altogether out of proportion to the condition of his poor 
suffering body, and indeed they were : it could have been 
aid from on High alone that supported his weakness. 
The day before Christmas he held a catechetical instruc- 
tion, celebrated Holy Mass, heard confessions, preached 
a sermon, then heard more confessions. Christmas Day 
he said his three Masses and preached three times. No 
one suspected the Saint's sufferings, for he went about 
his work in his usual zealous way in spite of his in- 
firmity. Louise de Romezin attended this mission for 
the first two days and left for Mont-Regard on the third. 
She suspected nothing, for had she for a moment thought 
her Spiritual Father was so near his death, she never 
would have gone away. 

On AYednesday, the 26th, Regis preached three times 
during the forenoon. He heard confessions until two 
in the afternoon and then celebrated Mass. This was 
the last time the Saint was to celebrate the Holy Sacri- 
fice. He could now distinguish a new^ meaning in the 
Avords spoken by Our Savior at the Last Supper : ' ' I 
shall not drink of the fruit of this vine, until I shall 
drink it anew in the kingdom of my Father." 

After his last Mass Regis attempted to go to the con- 
fessional, but he could not reach it owing to the throng 
Avaiting to be confessed. He therefore sat doAvn near 
the altar and began hearing confessions there. Near the 
altar was a AvindoAv, either partly open or in poor re- 

[112] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS KEGIS 

pair, for Regis was for the whole time he sat there, ex- 
posed to a draft on his uncovered head. 

He suddenly fainted. 

Astonishment is a mild term to express the feelings of 
the throng. As Father de Curley puts it, it was as if 
one of the giant oaks of their forests had suddenly and 
without warning toppled over in their midst. Those 
nearest bore the Saint to the presbytery, and there 
worked over him for a quarter of an hour. Even then 
the danger in which their beloved missionary lay did 
not seem to impress the good people, for they asked him 
to go on hearing confessions. He did so there in the 
presbytery, continuing for about two hours. At the end 
of this time he again fainted. 

At last the seriousness of the holy man's condition 
was realized. The people were dismissed and the Fathers 
of the Society of Jesus notified. Fathers Lascombe, 
Chabras and Audibert came at once from Tournon. 
Others came from Annonay and two physicians and an 
apothecary were summoned. It was at once seen that 
the malady was mortal. Saint John Francis Regis was 
dying from pleurisy. 

On December 30th the Saint once more made a gen- 
eral confession to Pere Lascombe. He was conscious 
and in full possession of his senses to the last. The only 
request he had to make was that he be allowed to die in 
a nearby stable. When this was refused him he quietly 
submitted and gave himself to prayer. 



[113] 



'^N AIANUS TUAS, DOMINE'' 

It was Hearing midnight on the 31st of December, 
1640. The dying Saint lay quiet. Suddenly his eyes 
seemed to take on an unwonted lustre, (our account 
follows that of those who were actually present,) and 
he appeared rapt in ecstasy. That Regis was favored 
in his last moments with a heavenly vision, he himself is 
Avitness, as only he himself could be. 

^'Oh, my Brother!" he cried, ^'I see Our Lord and 
Our Blessed Lady opening to me the gates of Heaven ! ' ' 

The Saint then lifted his eyes and uttered his last 
earthly prayer: ^'In manus tuas, Domine, commendo 
spiritum meum!" 



[114] 



THE SAINT IN THE HEARTS 
OF THE FAITHFUL 




Mortuary Chapel at La Louvesc 



The Last Restixg-Place : La Lou^'Esc 



At the time of the death of Saint John Francis Regis, 
La Louvesc was bnt a little hamlet, one of many others 
hidden away among the pines. A few houses bordered 
the pond, which with its swampy vegetation and stag- 
nant waters was skirted by a very bad road. Still, for 
all its unattractiveness and solitnde, there was one 
charm in La Lonvesc for Regis : its little church. Church 
indeed it may be called, but only by grace, for the edi- 
rlce, built, we are told, in the form of a cross, measured 
only thirty feet long by ten feet wide. Over the main 
altar, (and the accounts seem to imply that there was 
more than one,) hung a picture of Our Lady's Assump- 
tion. ElscAvhere there were pictures of Saint Agatha, 
Saint John Baptist and Saint Catharine. There was 
but one chalice, used at Holy Mass by the Pastor, M. 
Bayle, who resided not at La Louvesc, but at Yeyrines. 

Adjoining the church was the presbytery: two floors 
besides cellar and garret. The first floor was used as a 
kitchen and sleeping room for the Cure. L'^pstairs was 
a spare-room. 

Round about and along the pond were the cabins that 
comprised the village of La Louvesc, — La Louvesc, 
the tomb and last resting-place of the great Saint John 

[117] 



SAIXT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

Francis Eegis. It is the glorious tomb of a glorious 
saint, for, as says Father cle Curley: ''At La Louvesc 
was heard for the last time his apostolic voice; it was 
thence his soul took flight to Heaven; it was there his 
body was laid; there too his heart lay; and it is there 
above all that for three centuries he has shown his power 
and continued his work of saving souls." 

Here then at La Louvesc the remains of the Saint 
were laid to rest on the second day of January, 1641. 
The news of his death had spread rapidly and before 
long began the first of those afterwards numberless pil- 
grimmages to La Louvesc. Twenty-tAvo Cures at the 
head of their flocks came for the funeral. They crowded 
around the Saint 's remains, which were exposed for forty 
hours in the little church. All his garments they could 
find they piously filched. The Jesuits managed to save 
only his cloak and his soutane. 

Lying in state in his priestly robes. Saint John Francis 
Kegis was for the last time viewed by his sorrowing 
people. They recited the Office of the Dead for him be- 
tween their sobs and from time to time the bell sent its 
sad message out through the murmuring pines. For 
years after, we are told, this bell would toll before the 
approach of a thunder-storm, and never at La Louvesc 
Avas anyone known to have been struck by lightning save 
one, a woman, and this time the bell had failed to toll. 

During the Office and the Mass continual sobs might 
be heard, but when the blessed remains were lowered 
into the grave, (dug in the church just beneath the 

[118] 



THE LAST RESTING PLACE 

famous bell,) the cries and lamentations rent the air. 
No sooner was the grave filled bnt it was emptied again 
by the pious faithful, among them Louise de Romezin, 
who on hearing of her Spiritual Father's death, had re- 
turned at once to La Louvesc. Many were the miracles 
worked in later years through this same earth taken 
from the Saint's last resting-place. 

The funeral was, of course, attended by the Saint's 
brother Jesuits from the surrounding countryside. But 
not satisfied with this, the Rector of the College of 
Puy, Pere Arnoux, held public services in the church at 
Puy, with the Office of the Dead before a catafalque. 
When the news of this proceeding was sent to Rome as 
rather extraordinary and as usurping an honor paid in 
the Society of Jesus only to her deceased Generals, 
Father General Mutius Vittilleschi wrote back that he 
most heartily approved of what the Rector had done. 

These public honors were but the beginning of the 
Avonderful cult of Saint John Francis Regis which now 
began to appear on every side. The memory of the 
saintly missionary was strong among his brother Jesuits. 
They placed sketches of his life in their Menology, a 
record of the lives of men of the Order who have dis- 
tinguished themselves for piety and learning. The 
Menology is read daily at table in every Jesuit com- 
munity. In their exhortations to one another the vir- 
tues of Regis were held up as a shining example for 
imitation. The historians of the Society took up the 
task of writing his life. The first volume, from the pen 

[119] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

of Father Claude Labroue, S. J., appeared at Aniiecy 
in 1650. Ill 1653 and 1654 other editions of the same 
life were published. In 1660 it was translated into 
Latin, so as to make it accessible to all the Jesuits of 
the world. A life in German appeared as early as 1667. 
In 1716 we find a life in Polish and in the same year 
another in German. It was not until 1738 that any ac- 
count of the virtues of the Saint was given to the Eng- 
lish-speaking world. At that date we find a translation 
of Daubenton's life by Father C. Murphy, S. J., and 
since that date and the present writing, English-speak- 
ing peoples have had to read the life of Saint John 
Francis Regis in a foreign tongue. 

This seeming digression into the field of bibliography 
may serve to show how Regis' reputation for sanctity 
began to spread. It soon passed the boundaries of 
Languedoc into the rest of France, into Flanders, Spain, 
Germany, Asia and the two Americas. 

While the cult of the holy man was thus becoming so 
Avidespread, back at La Louvesc, its center of radiation, 
it was waxing proportionately intense. Rich and poor 
alike wished to beg official sanction of their devotion 
from the Holy See. The local municipalities of Yivarais, 
the General Government of Languedoc, assemblies of 
the Clergy, two kings of France, the King of Spain, the 
Queen of France, Cardinals, — all importuned the Holy 
Father to institute the canonical processes. 

And this was done. The first testimonies were taken 
in the following years : 1672, 1698, 1699, 1701, 1702 and 

[120] 



THE LAST RESTING PLACE 

1703. More than one hundred and sixteen witnesses 
were examined and their depositions recorded. Each 
was required to state how often he frequented the Sacra- 
ments, to name his regular confessor, and to take an 
oath binding under pain of excommunication, reserved 
to the Holy See. 

How affecting were some of the testimonies, may be 
judged from what the Bishop and Seigneur of Puy, 
Armande de Bethune, wrote to the Sacred Congrega- 
tion of Eites: "'We have examined eight octogenarian 
witnesses, all of the soundest sort of judgment and most 
faithful memory. AYe had but to see them and to hear 
them in order to assure ourselves of that. There were 
two others also, men of high rank, of great piety, virtue 
and faith. It is impossible for us to describe what ar- 
dor of spirit and what animation these old men mani- 
fested when they spoke of the virtues of the Servant of 
God and exalted his sanctity.'' 

There were stories of the blind who saw, the lame who 
walked, paralytics who regained the use of their limbs, 
and of spiritual lepers made whole through miracles of 
Grace. 

The Bishop continues: ''The people flock to his tomb 
to get the earth from his grave. Their devotion is as- 
tounding; their faith without equal; their vows in- 
numerable ; their sacrifices incessant ; their voices ever 
lifted in the praise of the Servant of God. I have 
never," he concludes, "heard of the like before!" 



[121] 



SAIXT JOHX FRANCIS REGIS 

Himself cured of an infectious chronic disease, the 
Bishop found it doubly difficult to restrain the devotion 
of the faithful Avithin proper bounds. Let the Congrega- 
tion, he begs on behalf of the people, proceed without 
delay to the beatification of this holy man of God. 
Steps were indeed taken, but in the ordinary canonical 
way, and the virtues of Regis having been proved heroic, 
lo ! one dissenting voice raised itself above the praising 
acclaim of the multitudes and for a brief moment halted 
this 'consummation so devoutly wished.' 

The voice was that of a disgruntled French ecclesiastic 
and his calumny in its first form was this: ''Regis 
should not be beatified, for he did not persevere in his 
vocation. He was dismissed from the Society and died 
a curate at La Louvesc.'' 

The origin of this infamous bit of lying is as follows : 
Louis Maille, a French ecclesiastic, was dismissed from 
the Priory of Dinant. This priory was in some way 
connected with the seminary directed by the Fathers of 
the Society of Jesus. In order to get revenge on the 
Society, Maille allied himself with the Jansenists, the 
Society's bitterest enemy. He was on this account 
exiled from France. He now proceeded to Rome where 
Father Daubenton. author of a life of Regis, was at the 
time engaged in furthering the cause of beatification. 
Father Daubenton had been Maille's chief adversary in 
the affair of Dinant, so here was another score for Maille 
to settle. 



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THE LAST EESTIXG PLACE 

Maille was shrewd enough to see that he could not 
stop the beatification in any ordinary or legitimate way, 
since none was open to him. He therefore sought out 
Lambertini, Promoter of the Faith, and began his con- 
versation with nothing but the highest praise of the 
sainted missionary. But what a pity it w^as, he went on, 
that the Jesuits were such a jealous body. Too bad 
they had ousted Regis from the Society. Too bad he 
had died a simple curate at La Louvesc. What? Had 
Lambertini never heard of that? What was his proof? 
Why! Maille 's birthplace was near La Louvesc and he 
had the whole gentry there to substantiate every state- 
ment he had made. 

Lambertini at once went to the Holy Father, who, 
without a word of warning to any Jesuit^ ordered the 
seizure of the archives of the Professed House, in w^hich 
is kept the record of everyone dismissed from the So- 
ciety, together with full particulars. Year by year, from 
1616, when Regis entered the Socieety, to 1640, when 
he died, the catalogs of the Province of Toulouse were 
examined and the name of Regis was found entered in 
each as an active member. 

Louis Maille, who attempted flight, was arrested and 
put in jail. 

The above will be sufficient proof, we believe, for 
modern readers, that Maille 's accusation was utterly 
groundless. It was enough for the Sovereign Pontiff. 
Still, there are also a few historical facts which lend 
added weight to the argument. First, no one ever heard 

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SAIXT JOHX FRANCIS REGIS 

of Regis' alleged dismissal from the Society from 1640 
to 1712, a period of seventy-two years. Secondly, no 
contradiction was made when in the canonical processes 
Eegis was declared to have died a bona fide Jesuit. 
Again, just before his death, it will be remembered, 
Regis was urged to return as soon as possible to Puy for 
the Renovation of Vows, a ceremony at which none but 
bona fide Jesuits may assist. Fourthly, he was an- 
nounced in all the houses of the Province of Toulouse as 
having died in the Society, and his name inscribed in 
the catalog of 1641 as having so died, whereas the names 
of certain otJiers were put down as dismissed. 

We have suggested that the action taken by the Holy 
Father in seizing the archives of the Professed House 
should have been testimony enough for all thinking men 
that Louis Maille's charges were false. And this was 
indeed the case so far as the Holy Office was concerned, 
but like every other calumny, this too lived on even after 
death, for on February 10, 1714, a certain French ec- 
clesiastic, ' ' qu 'il, ' ' as Father de Cuiiey says, ^ ' est inutile 
de nommer, ' ' wrote from Rome to one M. Perthuis, Vicar 
General of Avignon: ^^I am sure that the case stands 
with this new saint [JoJin Francis Regis] as with Blessed 
Stanislaus [S. J.]. In spite of his great virtue he was 
expelled from the Society as a useless member. He then 
returned into Cevennes, where he was a sort of curate. 
He worked principally on the missions, to which he de- 
voted himself without reserve and it was in this humble 
and laborious work that he sanctified himself. As you 



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THE LAST RESTING PLACE 

are yourself, Monsieur, on the spot where this took 
place, you can assure yourself of the truth or falsity of 
the story. Should you find it to be true, you will agree 
with me, I am sure, that one has to get out of the So- 
ciety in order to be canonized."^ 

Two years later, in 1716, on the 17th of April, the 
5th, 12th, and 19th of June, the Gazette de Hollande, 
published notices on the Beatification of Regis, and re- 
ferred to him as ''Professed of the Society of Jesus.'' 
On August 17th the same magazine came out with the 
following: ''Extract from some letters from Paris, 
July pOth: 'Pere Regis, who is about to be beatified 
through the efforts of the Jesuits, died as a curate of a 
village in Provence. He had joined the Jesuits in his 
youth, but his attachment to a doctrine stricter than 
that held by the Fathers, nettled them. He had plenty 
to suffer at their hands. They kept shifting him from 
one house to another, but finally recognizing that he 
would not ally himself to their doctrines, they expelled 
him from the Society. In consequence he took up the 
life of a curate in a village and here he died in the odor 
of sanctity, performing miracles, it is said, after death, 
as he had when alive.' " 

Even as late as the Canonization of the Saint a pub- 
lic statement was issued contradicting a Bishop who was 
so ignorant as to attach an "S. J." to Regis' name. 



•It is liardlv necessary to state tliat Saint Stanislaus died a 
Jesuit Xovice, in the Xovitiate of S. Andrea, Rome. 

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SAINT JOHN FRxVNCIS REGIS 

The final form which Louis Maille 's calumny assumed 
was that Regis had not, to be sure, been actually dis- 
missed from the Society, but that the letters of dismis- 
sal were in his possession when he died. He had re- 
ceived them while giving his last mission at La Louvesc. 
In fact M. Bayle, the cure of La Louvesc found them in 
Regis' pocket after his death. But being a considerate 
man, believing in the adage ^'Nil nisi bonum de mort- 
uis, ' ' he destroyed the letters. On this point, Father de 
Curley, the authority on this part of the Saint's life, 
remarks : ^ ' Only one thought : If the cure of La Louvesc 
spoke to anyone of his discovery, where is the proof 
Uiat it is true? If he kept his peace, how does anyone 
know aught about it?" 



I. Miracles 

Louis Maine's attempts to tear Saint John Francis 
Regis away from the Society of Jesus have been futile, 
yet even to this day one at times hears an echo of his 
calumny. It is hoped that our refutation will do much 
to bring the truth clearly before the minds of all. One 
thing at least is certain: no amount of calumny or 
slander has been able to remove the great man from 
the hearts of the faithful. They are as devoted to him 
now as in the days when he walked among his people 
preaching to them and hearing their confessions, and 
from the time of his death to our own day. Saint John 
Francis Regis has remembered his own. 

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There are records of hundreds and thousands who 
have benefited by his powerful intercession at the Throne 
of Heaven. By calling on his name in moments of dan- 
ger ; by kneeling in prayer before his portrait ; through 
the instrumentality of earth from his tomb and of other 
relics ; by making pilgrimages to La Louvesc ; at the old 
mortuary chapel erected on the site of his death and in 
the modern basilica, — in all these ways, from time to 
time miracles have startled the world and thrown new 
lustre on Regis' sanctity. 

AVe shall review some of the more striking of these 
miracles. There is, for instance, the history of Miguel 
Flores, which the unbeliever will cry down as unscien- 
tific, a French fairy tale. Miguel lived in Malaga and 
at the time of w^hich we are writing, he was an altar- 
boy in his parish church. He was noted for his great 
vivacity of spirit and his boyishness. He could never 
be quiet, and though a good lad, was thus troublesome to 
the Pastor, Padre Salzedo. Now it was this same rest- 
lessness of Miguel that led him providentially to become 
the occasion of a great miracle. 

It was the 24th of October, 1716, the eve of the cele- 
bration of the Saint's beatification and there was to be 
Vespers followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacra- 
ment. A number of young altar-boys were gathered in 
the sacristy when Padre Salzedo entered and appointed 
two of their number to ascend the tower to ring the 
great bell. Miguel Flores, of course, must needs accom- 
pany them. He was allowed to go, but on the under- 

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SAIXT JOHX FRANCIS REGIS 

standing that he ascend no higher than the bells, — the 
clock mnst not be visited. 

The young trio rushed off to the tower, Miguel, of 
course, in the lead. Arriving at the top, (some ninety 
feet above the earth,) all the bells were soon set pealing. 
The manner of ringing the old Spanish bells was pe- 
culiar to that country and needs a word or two of ex- 
planation. The bells were constructed with a wooden 
counterpart, of the same shape and size as the bell itself, 
fastened by bolts in the reverse position, so that the effect 
would be that of two bells joined top-to-top, one upside 
down upon the other. The wooden bell, or so-called 
''capitellum," is grasped by the handles at its edge, 
gently drawn down and allowed to swing back again: 
Thus the huge instrument is gradually set in motion, 
so that in a short time it is swinging over and over 
upon its axis. 

This method of ringing the bells the three young men 
employed with great vigor, so much, in fact, that Padre 
Salzedo shouted to them to ring no more. Miguel was 
obedient; indeed he carried his obedience too far. In- 
stead of permitting the bells to die out gradually, noth- 
ing would satisfy him but to stop them suddenly. Nor 
was any small game the object of his ambitions, — he 
must begin with the largest bell. His companions at- 
tempted to dissuade him, but to no avail. His idea was 
to seize the ^ ^ capitellum " of the bell and thus, by bear- 
ing his whole v/eight upon it, bring it to a stop. Only 
a boy of Miguel 's type would have conceived such a plan. 



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Needless to say, Miguel overestimated his powers, and 
instead of dragging back the bell, the iron handles 
caught in his cassock and lifted him high in the air, as if 
he weighed no more than an infant. One of his shoes 
flew to earth and Miguel was soon seen following it 
through the narrow window. In his flight he carried 
away with him a piece of stone which was lying on the 
window-sill. 

Miguel's companions watched the disappearance of 
their fellow bell-ringer with breathless awe. Just at 
the moment in which the bell lifted the young man into 
the air, one of his companions, Zimbrana by name, cried 
out: ^'May Blessed John Francis Regis protect you!" 

The bell suddenly stopped ringing. The boys rushed 
to the window and beheld below a cloud of dust where 
Miguel in his fall had dislodged the top of a chimney- 
piece. 

Miguel was picked up from the earth below unin- 
jured, and with no memory of what had befallen him ex- 
cept that he faintly recollected hearing Zimbrana call 
out : ' ' May Blessed John Francis Regis protect you. ' ' 
For the rest, he declared, it all seemed like a dream, from 
the time he had grasped the handles of the bell to the 
present moment. 

The above is the account of perhaps the most striking 
of the miracles performed through the invocation of the 
Saint. Miguel Flores afterwards became a Jesuit and 
the story of his providential escape has come down to 
us from the man himself. The more enlightened, so to 



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8AIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

say, of the present day will perhaps smile, or even laugh 
at this account ; but we of lively and more simple faith 
may laugh too. There is a proverb about him who 
laughs last. 

Very numerous too are the miracles performed 
through the use of the dust from Regis' grave, — a 
grave emptied again and again of the earth placed 
therein to cover his cofSn. One of these miracles was 
•performed in Canada. The recipient of the heavenly 
favor w^as a certain Angelique Bruyere, a servant in a 
hospital at Quebec. The good w^oman w^as suffering 
from a lesion of the brain and the physicians fearing to 
trepan the skull, had given up the case as hopeless. One 
of the Sisters, who had herself been cured by Regis, 
fastened around the dying w^oman's neck a little bag 
containing a picture of the Saint and some of the earth 
from his grave. A novena of prayers w^as promised. 
On the fourth day the physicians declared that Angel- 
ique could not last longer than the morrow. For four 
days, how^ever, she lingered, and on the eighth of the 
novena, when asked how she felt, said she w^as a little 
better and expected a great change by the next day. 

When asked what gave her such assurance, she re- 
plied that a stranger dressed in the garb of the Jesuits, 
a man of very saintly and noble bearing, holding a 
wooden cross in his hand, had appeared to her and told 
her that she would be cured within one day. 

'^Who was this man?'' Angelique was asked. 

She tried to pronounce his name, but could get no 
farther than the first syllable. 

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THE LAST RESTING PLACE 

'' 'Regis/ is itT' she was asked. 

' ' That is the name, ' ' replied the sick woman. 

The Sister in attendaiixie removed the picture of the 
Saint from the little bag and placing it indiscriminately 
among pictures of other Saints of the Society", asked 
Angelique to select the image of her benefactor. With- 
out assistance from anyone she promptly pointed to the 
picture of Eegis. 

The astonishing news of what had taken place was re- 
peated throughout the convent and was even noised 
about the city. The event would tell : either Angelique 
was telling the truth, or a pious nature was in this man- 
ner finding an outlet for its delirious wanderings. 

During the night the girl 's condition became apprecia- 
bly worse, so much so that the surgeons had all but 
determined to trepan as a last desperate resort. Toward 
midnight when things seemed no better, the patient sud- 
denly stirred and in great agitation shrieked aloud: 
' ' my God, my God ! ' ' She trembled in every limb ; 
her heart beat violently and she was covered with sweat. 
Fearing that the end was finally come, those about the 
bedside began to speak of pious topics, in order to con- 
sole, as they thought, the girl's last moments. 

The sick woman looked up enquiringly: ''AYhy do 
you talk to me of death? Do you think that I am 
already in my grave? It seems that the blood with 
which my head is filled is coming out of my nose and 
ears. ' ' 

Delirious, thought the bystanders. 



[LSI] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS EEGIS 

But Aiigelique continued: ''I tell you that I am 
saved through the kindness of Pere Regis. ' ' 

Rather to quiet her than because they had any faith 
in what she was saying, they asked the girl to tell how 
she had been cured. 

Here is Angelique's story: ''The pains in my head 
were tormenting me beyond endurance, when for the 
second time I beheld this religious, this priest of coun- 
tenance serene and pale. His nose was rather long, and 
his hair, I should say, something between black and 
blonde. He kept his eyes cast down. While I gazed 
intently upon him, he spoke: 'Courage, you are cured. 
In answer to my prayers God has granted you life and 
health.' 

"Then he went down on his knees and most piously 
reached out the cross which he held in his hand, and 
touched my head. This touch caused me unbearable 
pain and wrung from me the cry Avhich you just heard." 

Angelique now fell into a calm and deep sleep and 
when she awoke she was yet another witness to the 
power before Heaven of Saint John Francis Regis. 

Back across the sea at La Louvesc, we find that the 
history of the Saint's tomb is replete with narratives 
of an unbroken chain of miracles, cures of both body 
and soul. The story of one is refreshing, no less because 
of the cure itself than for the splendid virtue of the 
girl cured, one Marie Madeleine Crepet. 

The day was a historic one. Fifteen thousand pil- 
grims crowded the little village, and, as Father de 

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THE LAST EESTIXG PLACE 

Curley picturesquely paints the scene, ^'thronged the 
roads and crowned the hills. Eight Princes of the 
Church were blessing the people. The bells were ringing 
joyously. A vast murmuring of the crowd, — mingled 
prayers and thanksgivings, — was mounting toward 
heaven, for it was the day of the solemn consecration 
of the new Basilica." It was the 5th of August, 1877, 
a day well within the memory of our fathers, and on 
this day, whilst all La Louvesc was rejoicing, a little 
girl, Marie Madeleine Crepet, was kneeling apart from 
the throng, before the picture of Regis in the Mortuary 
Chapel. In her simplicity she had written the Saint 
a letter. To voice her prayer or hear its answer with 
the ears of the body w^as impossible, for Marie Madeleine 
was deaf and dumb. Yet it was not release from this 
affliction that she sought. ''You would like," she had 
written to the Saint, ''to give me back my hearing and 
my speech, but I will refuse that, for the greater glory 
of my suffering Jesus." 

AVhat then was the child's plea? Her mother was 
aged and infirm and had depended on what aid the 
little one could give her, when lo ! in God 's mercy, the 
use of the child's right arm had been taken away by 
paralysis and even now was bound to her side with 
bandages. It was the use of this poor member she 
craved, if only for the space of her mother's life. 

The hour was half past twelve, and though Marie 
Madeleine heard nothing of the pealing of the bells nor 
of the murmuring of the joyous throng, she knelt in 

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SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

prayer to her Saint for this boon. He must grant it^ 
she thought. Yes; he had done so, for now she rises 
and with her left hand removes the bandages; then 
with her right she blesses herself: In the name of the 
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 
Marie Madeleine, little heroine of France, the land of 
heroes and heroines, is cured! 

A youth who gave his name as Jean-ilarie Vianay, 
came one day to the church of St. Regis at La Louvesc, 
footsore and weary, having lived by alms, (and those 
scant indeed,) throughout his entire journey. He too 
would beg a miracle at the hands of the Saint. He 
would be a priest of God and asked the favor of being 
permitted to continue his studies toward that end. His 
had been a dull mind, slow to take in and still slower 
to retain the abstruse knowledge he must needs 
have of philosophy and theology. Jean-Marie returned 
to his studies with new understanding, and thus we 
may say that Saint John Francis Regis gave to France 
the illustrious Cure d'Ars, a man who though he labored 
incessantly for his dear poor, still always had time for 
prayers of thanksgiving to his benefactor, and who even 
when dying, commissioned his housekeeper to make a 
pilgrimage of thanksgiving in his name to his Saint, 
saying : ' ^ Any good I have done, I attribute to him. ' ' 

The story of the cure of Marie-Louise Tavernier, as 
being as remarkable as any ever worked through the 
intercession of the Saint, may serve as a last example 
of his power manifested among his people. 

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THE LAST RESTING PLACE 

ilarie-Louise Tavernier was a native of Aubenas, who, 
in February, 1878, was taken with a serious case of 
rheumatism. She was soon rendered helpless by the 
steady progress of the disease, till at length in spite of 
much treatment at the hands of competent physicians, 
she was bed-ridden. 

Marie's mother wrote to La Louvesc asking for 
prayers and procuring a novena of Masses. This favor 
was granted by the Superior at the time. Reverend P. 
Cohanier, S. J., but it seems that the time was not yet 
ripe for a cure. Another treatment was submitted to at 
Lyons, with the result that the patient was given up 
by the physicians. She would die during the night, 
they declared. But when on the following day they 
found her still alive, they had her placed in a east and 
prescribed the open air and sunlight as a means of 
prolonging her life. She was now removed to Cannes 
where she remained in terrible suffering and unable to 
move a single joint of her entire body. Naturally a 
disorder of the stomach set in and Marie was able to 
retain but little food. 

We have the description of Marie 's condition of health 
from her own testimony; and it is from those whose 
tender devotion kept them near her bedside that we 
learn something of her appearance at this stage of her 
terrible malady. We are told that her body had shrunk 
to mere skin and bones, causing her to look, with the 
exception of her peculiarly brilliant eyes, more like a 
mummy than a living person. 

[135] 



SAIXT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

Marie's mother was a woman of intrepid faith. I]yen 
now, when hope looked blackest, she determined on one 
more last appeal to Saint John Francis Regis for aid. 
Only the heart of a mother, beholding the suffering of 
her child, could have faith like that. The journey was 
begun on July 2nd, and in the minds of friends of the 
family, the most that could be expected would be to keep 
the girl alive en route. Not so the mother. So great 
was her faith in the coming cure of her daughter, that 
she prepared all the girl's clothes that she should have 
to wear when returning home. 

During the journey many hotels and inns refused 
lodging to the spectre, (as she soon came to be re- 
garded,) for fear she might die on their hands. Even 
at La Louvesc, at the Hotel Costet, a place presumably 
inured to the sight of invalid guests, the management 
was unwilling to receive poor Marie, especially when 
they learned that she wished to remain for an entire 
novena. Someone even suggested that the girl was doing 
the Saint an injustice thus to come here to his very 
shrine to die. 

Madame Travernier sought Pere Cohanier in order to 
obtain the novena of Masses. Here were encountered 
fresh difficulties. The Superior declared that he had 
no priest free to say a novena of Masses and was un- 
willing to ask any to put off his other intentions, even if 
he might be able to do so. 

'^Besides," said the Superior, ^^your daughter is very 
ill. Pray to the Saint and return home. Saint Regis 

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THE LAST RESTING PLACE 

can cure at a distance as well as here. He has, yon 
know, his own privileged ones, — for the most part he 
cures the poor.'' 

The reason for such a cutting remark does not appear. 
If it was to test the woman's humility, Father Cohanier 
was not disappointed. She replied: 

''Mon Pere, the flowers you see on my bonnet do 
not make a rich woman of me. Nearly every centime 
I possessed has been spent on my unfortunate daughter. 
Now Saint Regis can cure her for me, and if I have to 
wait a whole month, I shall not go away without my 
novena of Masses. ' ' Are we not reminded of the woman 
in the Gospel who importuned Our Savior to cure her 
daughter? Being a woman of faith like to that told of 
in the sacred narrative, Madame Travernier would not 
take no for an answer. 

M. Tabbe Vacheresse was found to say the Masses of 
the novena, which began on July 30th. When it was 
seen that Marie-Louise Tavernier was in earnest indeed, 
great crowds began to attend the novena. On the morn- 
ing of the first of August the girl was carried according 
to custom to the church. It was the seven o'clock Mass 
she was now attending, not the novena Mass, which was 
to follow. 

Marie's own story of the beginnings of her cure tell 
us in simple fashion of what took place. 

''I was placed in front of the Lady Altar. At the 
moment of the elevation I felt great pain and feared 
I would not be able bear it much longer. Yet my con- 

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SAIXT JOPIX FRANCIS REGIS 

fideiice did not wane for one moment. I prayed: ^My 
God, it is Thy will, I trust, to cure me. Do so, I beg 
Thee, for my family's sake, and I shall give myself up 
entirely to Thee.' 

''The priest w^as now bringing me Holy Communion. 
One instant after receiving, (0 happy moment!) all 
pain left me and I now^ felt that I could move my toes. 
Turning toward my sister, I said: 'Adele, I think I 
must be cured ; tell mother. ' 

*'But mother had seen all; she went immediately to 
the sacristy and told 1 'abbe Vacheresse, who was about to 
begin the novena Mass, that he might now say a Mass 
of Thanksgiving, — ' For, ' said she, ' I believe that my 
daughter is cured. ' ' ' 

After the Mass the cast was removed and for the first 
time in months the girl was able to eat wdth comfort. 
The physician who examined her after the miracle, de- 
clared that the cure was complete. Said he: ''Saint 
Eegis has relieved her pain, — a thing we could not do, 
— but, believe me, it will come back again. Diseases of 
this kind always suffer a relapse." 

Madame Tavernier's repl^^ may fittingly close this 
account without further comment on our part. Her ow^n 
language wdll preserve the charm of her answer: 
"Quand c'est vous qui les guerissez; mais quand c'est 
le hon Dieu, elles ne reviennent pas." 

Only one of the miracles above recounted is of the 
number of those accepted as ' ' canonical ' ' for the beatifi- 
cation or canonization of the Saint, that namely, of the 

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o 



I— I 

< 



THE LAST EESTIXG PLACE 

preservation of Miguel Flores. This is the fifth of the 
seven miracles presented to the Sacred Congregation 
for the cause of canonization In all, fifteen miracles 
were presented: eight for beatification and seven for 
canonization. Of the eight, two, the required number, 
were accepted and six rejected as insufficient. 
Of the seven, three were accepted and four rejected. 
John Francis Eegis Avas beatified in 1716, and it was 
on the occasion of the celebration of his beatifica- 
tion that the miracle of Miguel Flores took place. In 
1737 Regis was canonized, and from that day to the 
present there has been no falling off in the devotion 
shown him, nor, we may add, in the response of the 
Saint to that devotion. 



//. Our Own Day 

Not only cult of Saint John Francis Eegis manifested 
in pilgrimages to his birthplace and to his tomb, but 
imitators of his life and virtues have been evident in 
many quarters of France. Seven such holy men have 
particularly distinguished themselves. Francois de 
Barry was a great preacher who could be induced to 
carry on his missions among the poor alone. Jean 
Chautard lived over again Regis' austerity of life: for 
forty years he was never known to take more than one 
meal a day, and this despite the fact that his apostolic 
labors were heavy. Jacques Montal, though eighty-four 
years of age when he died, had employed his time 

[139] 



SAIXT JOHX FRAXCIS REGIS 

solely ill teaching grammar, hearing confessions, teach- 
ing the elements of religion, visiting the sick and poor 
and reconciling enemies. He is said to have possessed 
the gift of prophecy and of reading hearts. It is said 
also that miracles due to his intercession were performed 
after his death. Jean Paul Medaihle was famous for 
the religious institutes of both men and women founded 
by him, — among others the ''Institute of the Sisters of 
Saint Joseph." Anne de Vogue followed in the actual 
missionary paths trod by Regis. Paul Antoine Dauphin 
was noted for his devotion to Regis from the days of 
his childhood. He preached the panegyric of the Saint 
at Tournon in 1737, the year of the canonization. P. 
Delmas was another active missioner who also covered 
the actual field traversed by the Saint. 

In 1688, a young man of Avignon, Jean Abbes, 
eighteen years of age, was cured of dumbness through 
the intercession of the Saint. He afterwards founded the 
•'Society of Saint Peter of Luxembourg," devoted to 
the spiritual interests of young working-men. 

The "Society of Saint Regis" was founded in 1824, 
by M. Gossin, an eminent Parisian lawyer and had for 
its object the revalidation of marriages improperly per- 
formed. M. Gossin founded this society in consequence 
of a vow made at La Louvesc, whither he had gone to 
petition perfect health at the hands of the Saint, and 
whence he had come away cured. 

Also in 1824, Mgr. D 'Avian realized his cherished 
project of founding the ''Missionary Secular Priests," 

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THE LAST RESTIXG PLACE 

who ministered to the pilgrims during the summer 
months. One of these priests was M. Therme, who later 
founded the ''Ladies of the Cenacle of the Retreat.'' 

On April 20, 1888, His Holiness Pope Leo XIII, 
in recognition of the still frequent miracles taking place 
at La Louvesc and because of the great apostolic works, 
continuations as it were of the Saint's work, radiating 
from this center, erected the church containing the re- 
mains of Saint John Francis Regis into a minor basilica, 
under the titles of Saint Agatha and Saint John Francis 
Regis. 

The original church at La Louvesc was replaced by a 
more pretentious edifice begun in 1744 by M. Aulhane, 
at that time Cure, but finished only in 1770 by M. 
Claude Bilhot, his successor. This church was finally 
torn down to give place to the basilica of 1877,* the 
work of the famous architect M. Bossan, famous for his 
churches at Ars and Lyons. 

The erection in 1900 of the two spires, by Reverend 
P. Cohanier, S. J., completed the building as it now 
stands. To Pere Cohanier also is due the credit of 
building the chapel of Saint Ignatius, which accom- 
modates the faithful of La Louvesc for all purely 
parochial services, thus leaving the basilica free for the 
services connected with the cult of the Saint. 

In fact so devoted a zealot for the glory of Saint 
John Francis Reris was this lovable character and hum- 



""Tliough consecrated in 1877, it was not till 1888 that the 
church was made a basilica affiliated to Saint Mary Major. 

[141] 



SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS 

ble religious, that a brief sketch of his life and labors at 
La Louvesc must be inserted even here. Born July 9, 
1827, at Nangy, in Savoy, he was educated by his 
maternal uncle M. le cure Bastian. Cohanier's father 
had died when the boy was quite young and when 
twelve years of age he was sent to the famous College 
of Melan, near Taninges, conducted by the Jesuit 
Fathers. When in 1848 the Jesuits were expelled from 
Savoy, Cohanier, on the advice of his uncle, entered 
the Seminary of Annecy. During two years at Annecy 
the thought uppermost in the mind of the young sem- 
inarian was the Society of Jesus and how he might join 
its ranks. Expressing his desires at home, he met with 
nothing but opposition, especially on the part of his 
uncle, M. le cure Bastian. Consequently, in the summer 
of 1849, the young man determined that he must if he 
wished to follow his vocation, imitate Saint Stanislaus. 
Accordingly, one day while his uncle was absent on 
retreat, Cohanier made an excuse of going to Bonneville, 
and kissing his mother good-bye, set out for the Jesuit 
Novitiate at Avignon. 

Here he finally arrived after a weary journey on 
foot, but not without frequent and heavy temptations 
to retrace his steps. But courage was a characteristic 
of Cohanier, so he had kept manfully on. It is not to 
be supposed, however, that the new Novice forgot those 
he had left behind : his letters breathe an affection and 
a gratitude all the stronger now because of his new 
purpose. To his uncle, who had gradually become re- 

[142] 



THE LAST RESTING PLACE 

conciled, he often writes: ^^Apres Dieu, c'est a vous, 
eher oncle que je dois ce bonheur. Oh, soyez-en mille 
fois beni!" 

Toward the close of his noviceship at Avignon, the 
young Scholastic Avas sent in 1850 to the College of 
Dole, where for three years he taught grammar. He 
spent the next year as Director of Musical Studies at 
the College of St. Etienne. For the next four years 
Cohanier made his theological studies : two years at 
llongre and two at Aix, where in 1858 he was ordained 
priest. The following two years found him again at 
Mongre as prefect, after which he made his Tertianship 
at Notre Dame de Liesse. 

After the Third Year of Probation, Pere Cohanier 
spent five years at Boufarick, in Algeria; one year at 
Moulins; two years again at Mongre, and four years at 
St. Etienne, until in 1877 he came to La Louvesc. Here 
he devoted all his great energies to the beautif^dng of 
the sacred mementoes of Saint John Francis Regis and 
to the care of the souls of the thousands who made 
pilgrimages to La Louvesc. To the natives of the town 
too he was equally devoted, doing all in his power to 
make them happy both in body and soul. For instance, 
thanks to Pere Cohanier telegraphic communication was 
installed at La Louvesc. Trusting, like the great Saint 
for whom under God he worked, always to Divine 
Providence to supply him with the temporal means he 
needed, he was never disappointed. It was marvelous, 
people said, how he would pray for donations and get 



[143] 



SAIXT JOHN FRAXCIS REGIS 

them. The Mortuary Chapel was decorated in 1898 by 
the famous painter from Valence, M. Audrau, who is 
responsible for the beautiful mural painting repre- 
senting the flight to heaven of the soul of the Saint. 

It was Pere Cohanier's intention also to restore the 
little oratory at the miraculous fountain, but owing to 
troublesome times and the laws against the Society in 
France, he was never able to realize his project. 

After erecting the Chapel of Saint Ignatius in 1898, 
Pere Cohanier built the two beautiful spires on the 
towers of the basilica. This was his last great work at 
La Louvesc. Old age and infirmity were creeping upon 
him, so in 1902 he was removed to St. Etienne, where 
he passed peacefully away nine years later, June 23, 
1911, at the age of eighty-four years. Pere Cohanier 
will long be remembered at La Louvesc, both by the 
people of the town and by all w^ho journeyed thither, 
and surely the great Saint he so loved to honor has 
not failed to intercede for him at that Throne where 
he has proven himself so powerful. 



And now this story of the life and labors and of the 
glory of Saint John Francis Regis, of the Society of 
Jesus, may be brought to a close. Plain though its 
manner of telling has been, it is still worthy of con- 
sideration by English-speaking readers, for it is the 

[144] 



THE LAST BESTING PLACE 

story of a man who labored, (that is the only word), 
to make himself the great saint he was. His name is 
widely enough known, (our own Jesuit schools bear it, — 
and even hotels!) but that is all. May the knowledge 
of something more than his name, the knowledge of his 
life and virtues, bring to imitate him, even a few of 
those who peruse these pages. 



[145] 



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